Pain Killer
by Maiden of the Heavens
Summary: She thought the drugs were her only escape from the pain that echoed during and after visions. Even if she died from her addiction, all she wanted after all was escape the pain. But she never thought a boy with messy black hair would be the hope for her mother's prayers.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is my first ever Lost Hero fanfic so please no flames. I do not own the Percy Jackson in anyway, just my OCS. This fanfic is rated M for drug abuse and heavy swearing. Please read and review, Maiden of the Heavens (MOTH) **

Chapter One

As a Daughter of Apollo, she was talented at music. To be more specific, only two instruments, the lyre and the harp. But right now, she stared out her bedroom window, watching as rain trickled down the pane, and thunder lightly rumbled above. She sighed and pressed the tips of her fingers into her shut eyelids, hoping, hoping, the pain would just go away. But of course it didn't, as always the pain only intensified, as another vision rocked her mind to the core. Leaving her body to tremble in agony, as she gasped for breath and with blind eyes groped around for the orange bottle that sat on her nightstand.

She could hear the pills rattling; she almost had them within her grasp. One large white pill, the size of a quarter, and she would be in bliss. Away from all the agony. It was just another stupid vision; sometimes they weren't all that horrible, end-of-the-world type visions. This was one just plain dumb.

Just as she had popped the cap off the bottle, she heard her little sister scream. Her nine-year-old _half-_sister, screaming at the top of her lungs, and just because the dog had gotten at the last piece of her birthday cake. What a damn tragedy… she ignored Aella's wailing and her mother trying to calm her. The Daughter of Apollo slipped the pill a little past her tongue, and chugged it down with a bottle of water. She pulled her black and grey striped beanie over her chocolate-brown eyes, which matched her chocolate brown hair, and jammed the dark green ear buds of her cherry-red IPod into her ears. _Abandon All Ships _blared against her ear-drums, and surged through her veins, as the pain killers began to pull her under, the warm feeling of happiness flooded through her body as began to slip away from the world.

She felt someone grip her hand, and call her name. "Cassandra, you shouldn't do this. You're killing yourself."

Funny, the Daughter of Apollo thought, as the voice was able to get in past the punk music. It sounded like her father. The one who had given her IPod on her fourteenth birthday, and her lyre, on her eighth birthday. But she did not care if she was dying, it was better than being in constant agony. Her sister's cries of despair were finally dissipating to giggles. She didn't care, all she wanted was to get through this Summer of Hell, and back to where she belonged.

Camp Jupiter.

_ He was there, he was there again, surrounded by mist. He had messy black hair that looked like he had just gotten out of bed in the morning, and intense black eyes. Was he supposed to be glaring at her? All she could see in his eyes was pain and maybe fear. He was trying to hide it, put on a big brave man-face, but she could see past it, he was just as scared as anyone when it came to monsters. Monsters were something to fear. A roar blasted through her ears…he looked like he was running toward her, sword raised, to protect her? Protect her from what? She was about to turn when the roar blasted her again and made her ears ring …_

Cassandra sat upright, gasping for air, as it filled her lungs. Damn it. She automatically pulled her short sword out from under her pillow and crept toward her bedroom door. The roaring continued. She slowly opened her door, ready to face the monster in her smoke grey nightshirt and pale blue night shorts. With her sword raised, she headed toward the banister and peered down toward the living room below.

Fuck.

It was just her sister's dumb dinosaur special. Aella kept rewinding the scene to see the tyrannosaurus rex roar in rage. Cassandra sighed, and sheathed her sword, she ran a hand through her slightly choppy neck-length hair, and practically stumbled down the stairs. She fumbled under the couch cushion for the remote, while Aella sat on the ocean grey floor, eating a bowl of popcorn. Cassandra finally found the remote and jammed the volume button down to zero.

Her little sister turned around and glared at her, but Cassandra turned and their mother. She had her chocolate brown hair knotted back in a bun, her steel grey eyes tired.

"Why would you let her play it so damn loud?" she mumbled, ignoring Aella as she stuck her tongue out at her.

She also ignored her younger sibling when she tattled on her for saying, "a bad word" and to put a quarter in the swear jar. The Daughter of Apollo rolled her eyes, and promptly told her sister, "Grow the hell up, Aella."

Her sister went to pelt her with a handful of popcorn, but Cassandra had escaped to the kitchen. She stood in the light of the refrigerator and grabbed the jug of chocolate milk. She poured herself a glass and sipped at it, as her mother came in, and began putting the dinner dishes in the sink.

Diane looked at her sixteen-year-old daughter with worried eyes. "Are they getting worse?" she asked as she pressed a hand to Cassandra's thin cheek.

Cassandra shrugged, why should her mother care? She had her perfect little second daughter Aella, to fall back on, when she became a total fuckup.

"Don't worry Mom, I'll be out of your hair in a few weeks and then you and Rory will have your perfect little family back."

Without another word, she put her empty glass in the sink and wiped the milk mustache away with the back of her hand. She trudged up the stairs, to see Rory peering out from behind the bedroom door, a baseball bat in hand. His fire-red hair stuck up on all ends, and Cassandra barely held back a laugh.

"There are no monsters. Just Aella's stupid movie." She said to comfort the exhausted mortal businessman who was only in panda boxers.

The Daughter of Apollo put her sword back under her pillow, and felt for her longbow and arrows under the bed. She took off her beanie; put her ear buds back in her ears, and fell back to sleep, still very much drugged and pain-free.

The sound of _Abandon All Ships _once again resounding in her ears, while she dreamed.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Welcome to chapter two of Pain Killer. I lowered the rating to T, and I am thankful for the reviews I have so far, please keep them coming. I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians just the idea for this story, and any OCS. –Maiden of the Heavens (MOTH)**

Chapter 2

The music of _Abandon All Ships _had stopped sometime during the night, so when Cassandra groggily awoke early the next morning, before the sun was even up, all she could hear was silence. She let out a sigh, and rubbed the sleep from her eyes with her hands. She didn't even bother to pull out the ear pod buds until she had yanked off her nightshirt, and they had reluctantly been pulled out along with the fabric. She tossed the nightshirt into the hamper and dug a clean shirt out of dresser drawer. She yanked it on over her head, and smiled just a little. It was one of her favorite shirts. Pale blue with a white cloud on the front that was frowning with a little pink cheeks, on the top it said, 'Why do people sing + dance' and then on the bottom of the cloud, 'in my pee?'. She tossed her black and grey striped beanie in the hamper and opted for her pale blue and white striped one. She grabbed her sword from her under her pillow and strapped it around her waist, and then she clipped her iPod onto the sheathe with the iPod buds back in her ears; she headed down the stairs with _Rise Against _pounding her ears.

The Daughter of Apollo bobbed her head along with the song, Help Is On The Way, while she shuffled into her sneakers, letting the backdoor bang shut behind her, she ran out onto the sidewalk and continued to run.

She loved greeting the dawn, maybe it was because it was her father's chariot that pulled it, and she quickly boosted her way up to the library and plopped down on the cement steps. She watched birds flutter amongst the grey dawn and let the music become one with her pulse. The music, the pain killers, they were her life now. Besides fighting monsters, the music and the drugs was all that kept her so-called existence intact. Cassandra sighed as she switched _Rise Agaisnt _to a different band, called _Underoath. _The roaring of the main vocalists flooded into her ears as she made her way off the steps, ready to run back home, her stomach beckoning food.

Cassandra could feel herself falling as one of her feet snagged on the end of shoelace, and she nearly went tumbling down and met face to face with the cement, but that was not the case. Instead her face met the musky midnight black fabric of a hoodie. It smelt of dirt, and death. She cringed and tried to push herself away from her savoir.

But he wrapped his hands around her bone-thin wrists; his pale skin was nearly milk-white. She dared to glare at the teenage boys dark eyes. He had her wrists; neither of them could reach for their swords.

"I-I've seen you…" She whispered, feeling panic bubbling against her anger.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "You have?"

Cassandra nodded quickly; as he slowly released the grip he had on her. "Son of Pluto." The words came in a disgusted hiss. Even though she really wanted to say, "In my nightmares." But she didn't, truth be told, he frightened her. But she had seen him before, at Camp Jupiter, visiting his half-sister, Hazel. She made her way around him, and then began to run home. Tears of fear welled in her eyes. She didn't want to be near him, what if he was going to drag her to the Underworld? She might have wished death upon herself, but not this soon.

She wrenched open the backdoor, and made her way into the kitchen. The smells of bacon and eggs frying reached her nose, and made her stomach growl. She pulled her IPod buds from her ears, and turned the device off before setting it on the counter. It was odd not to have the music pulsing through her and hearing only the noises of the kitchen. The coffee maker chugged away, while Rory continued to make breakfast. He looked up from the chocolate chip pancake he was flipping, and smiled ever so slightly.

"There's somebody in the living room, that's here to see you." Rory said, his strong Irish brogue slipping into his words. "Claims that he's your brother."

Cassandra sighed out the word, "Shit," before grabbing a piece of bacon off of the paper towel covered plate, and nibbling it on her way to the living room

She spotted her brother sitting on the living room couch, slicing open one of Aella's stuffed animal pigs with his ceremonial dagger, and looking at its stuffing.

"You just killed Mister Oink; Aella is going to have your shins black and blue when she gets home with Mom."

Octavian let the fluffy white remains fall from his thin fingers. In fact all of him was thin, his skin the same paleness as Cassandra's, save for the blonde hair and ice blue eyes, they could of looked like actually siblings.

His ice blue eyes locked with his younger sister's dark chocolate brown. He could see the fear and exhaustion in them, and it worried him. It was also worrying their father. He let out a sigh and ran a hand through his golden blonde hair, where was he supposed to start?

Octavian looked down at the stuffing remains of Mister Oink and back at his full-blooded little sister, it was rare among the Gods and Goddesses to have a child with the same mortal spouse, but there was something about Diana that Apollo just couldn't shake off.

"Dad's worried about you." He finally said, and Cassandra scoffed.

"I am too, you know." Octavian said as he gently took the Daughter of Apollo's hand in his own.

Cassandra sighed, "Sometimes the visions hurt a lot, Octi…and their never good ones. Always horrifyingly bad; or just really, really stupid."

She was about to continue when the front door banged open, hitting the wall. Diane entered first, following after her was Aella. The nine-year-old's braces were now in place and she didn't look too pleased about it.

"Hey Mom." Octavian said nervously as he quickly shoved Mister Oink under the couch, while Cassandra jammed the stuffing under a cushion.

Diane embraced her son awkwardly, a bag of groceries in one hand, and then laid a kiss on his head. "Come help me put the groceries away you too. Octavian, are you staying?"

Both Children of Apollo stood and trailed after their mother, while Aella sat on the couch and began to channel surf. Octavian winced when he heard her cries of despair, and quickly began to put away the cereal, the basset hound, Gus, sniffing away at his sneakers.

"I'll be staying for the week, and then going back to Camp with Cass." He replied, indicating to his duffle bag that was near the staircase and lifting Gus into his lap once he sat down in a chair.

Aella came in and threw the remains of Mister Oink on the floor, pointing an accusing finger at Octavian, while Gus jumped off his lap and left the kitchen with the pig stuffed animal in his mouth. "YOU KILLED MISTER OINK!" the nine-year-old shrieked, at a banshee-like level.

Cassandra rolled her eyes and stabbed her sunny-up egg with a piece of toast, "Shut up, Aella."

Their little half-sister trudged up to her room, claiming that she was going to hide all of her stuffed animals someplace where Octavian was never going to find them. Cassandra nibbled on her toast, while her older brother mixed crumbled bits of bacon into his egg.

This week was going to be interesting…

**A/N: Please leave a review! –Maiden of the Heavens**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Chapter three is now here, I hope are enjoying this story as much as I enjoy writing it. Please keep the reviews coming, they are best support I could ask for. As always, I do own PJATO, but I do own the plot for this story and any OCS. –Maiden of the Heavens (MOTH)**

Chapter 3

Curses in Latin slipped past her mouth in an agonized scream, she clutched the railing to the stairs, and practically rammed her head through the wall. The pain of the vision left her head swimming and made it feel like a Cyclops had beaten her into an early grave with its foot. She was about to half-drag, half-crawl up the steps that seemed like a mountain to her room, when Octavian lifted her with hardly any effort at all, and got her into her bedroom. He set one of her nightshirts on her bed that was so long it almost flowed to her ankles. Even though the Daughter of Apollo tried to protest her big brother's help, he yanked off her already sweat-soaked clothes and helped her to change.

Octavian gently wiped the tears away that were streaming down his little sister's face with a tissue, while she clutched her head in her hands and whimpered. Octavian hated seeing her like this, and hated seeing the visions practically mentally and physically tear her apart. He dug in the drawer of her dresser until he found the traffic cone orange medicine bottle, and twisted off the cap.

He handed her the quarter-sized pill and with shaking hands, she struggled to put the chalky drug in her mouth. She swallowed it down with a whole bottle of water, praying it would kick in soon. She looked at her brother with red and puffy eyes, her face still slightly tear-stained.

"Octi…I'm sorry…" She choked out past the agony, Octavian simply tucked in her bed and pressed a kiss to her hair, he then tucked her cherry red iPod in her hand.

"We're siblings, Cass. We take care of each other." The Son of Apollo shrugged and left her to lie in bed bathed in the afternoon light of the sun.

Cassandra slipped her iPod buds into her ears, and scrolled through the list of heavy metal, punk, and alternative; before finding the band she wanted. The voice of Chester Bennington began to lull away her fears and allow her to slip into a haziness of half-consciousness just as the drug kicked in.

_Like shining oil, this night is dripping down. Stars are slipping down, glistening. And I'm trying not to think on what I'm leaving now…_

The Daughter of Apollo narrowed her eyes, seeing something shifting in the shadows that crept out from her bedroom closet, she clumsily tried to reach for the hilt of her blade that was under her pillow, but sighed when she saw the tree branches swaying in the wind of a coming storm.

She nearly laughed at her own paranoia. She sighed and went to close her eyes, the drug washing away the pain but leaving her dizzy.

_When the lights go out, and we open our eyes, out there in the silence, I'll be gone, I'll be gone._

Cassandra opened her eyes again, this time her fingers did wrap around the hilt of her short sword, but she did not have any time to unsheathe it, as she felt cold hands clamp down onto her wrist and over her mouth, so she wouldn't scream. Ebony eyes buried into her fearful dark chocolate brown.

Nico stared at her with frustration and anger on his face. "I need you to listen to me."

Cassandra narrowed her eyes at him, as if to say, 'Why should I?'

Nico sighed and slowly lifted his hand away from her mouth, "Don't scream."

He carefully took her iPod, and paused the music she was listening to, and took out the IPod buds. The room was bathed in silence while the Son of Pluto sat at the edge of the bed by her curled in legs. Nico looked like he wanted to say something to her, but couldn't seem to find the words. Instead, he looked like a fish gasping for air.

"So instead of stalking me in my visions, you've now decided to stalk me in real life too?" Cassandra growled, her fingers still gripping the hilt of her sword.

Nico raised an eyebrow, his hoodie pulled tightly over his messy face. "What are you talking about?"

"You've been in my nightmares…visions…ever since I came back here." She replied, the Daughter of Apollo would never be able to call this place home. Home, was Camp Jupiter, was being with her siblings and fighting monster. That was home, not this place.

"Yeah, well you've been in mine too." Nico grumbled.

Cassandra sighed, "Why is this happening?" She groaned and without realizing it, she laid her head against the pillow. She repeated the question as the world around began to spin into darkness.

"Because you drugged yourself, dumbass." Nico sighed and tucked her in, Good Gods could this get any weirder?

"N-No…" She slurred, trying her best to force her eyes open but it was not of any use.

The Son of Pluto sighed; it was hopeless trying to get any answers out of her. He would have to try again, when she less drugged.

He slipped into the shadows and vanished, just as Octavian peaked into the room, one of Aella's stuffed animals in his hand. The light from hallway was only illumination in the room, as he checked on his little sister. She suddenly bolted upright, gasping for air, as if she couldn't get enough of it into her lungs. She looked over at Octavian with fear and uncertainty swarming in her dark chocolate orbs.

The Son of Apollo let the stuffed animal fall to the floor, once again getting snatched away by Gus. He gently held his sister to his chest, while she calmed her shaking her breathing.

"Was it another vision?" Octavian asked, seeing their mother peering at the worriedly, from behind the mountain of folded laundry she was carrying in her arms.

"I-I don't know…" Cassandra answered shakily, "Maybe."

Then she caught her mother's sky-blue eyes. "Mom, you should go check on Fredrick."

Octavian raised an eyebrow, "Fredrick?"

Cassandra rolled her eyes as she answered. "Aella's pet turtle. She's probably letting him swim in the bathtub again."

Just then the siblings and Diana heard Rory screaming in both anger and pain. "Damn turtle! Aella come and get Freddy off of my toe!"

The Daughter and Son of Apollo let out a sigh as their youngest half-sibling whined out, "Daddy, he only bit your toe because you scared him."

Octavian looked over at his sister and grinned, "I can't wait to go back."

Cassandra couldn't help but agree. "Me either."

**A/N: The bands featured and the lyrics that are used also belong to their respected artists. So once again, please review! –Maiden of the Heavens (MOTH) **


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I have to say I am really enjoying writing this story, and thank you all so much for your support. I do not own PJATO, but I do own any OCS and the story. So as always, please review. –Maiden of the Heavens (MOTH) **

Chapter 4 

The Daughter of Apollo ran a hand through her choppy neck-length hair. It was still damp from the shower, and ended up sticking up like she had just rolled out of bed and hadn't bothered to rinse away the cold and slick sweat that came from her visions and nightmares. A shudder slid down her spine. She could still smell him in her room, the scent of death and soil; she could still see his dark eyes boring into her soul. She shook her head to clear away her thoughts and pulled on her onyx black skinny jeans; they went with her black t-shirt, with a red stop sign on it, which read in black lettering: STOP HATE! Cassandra yanked on her black and blood-red striped beanie and latched her IPod once again on to the belt of her sword sheathe. She easily could have thumbed through the artists for a certain band, but instead picked the playlist called, Run as Fast as You Can.

With Anodyne Sea pumping in her ears by As I Lay Dying, she hopped from one sock covered foot to the other to pull on her sneakers. She had to get this run in before Aella woke up at the crack of dawn to remind everyone in the house that her ballet recital was this afternoon. The soon to be fourth grader was a damn teacup in the ballet production of Beauty and the Beast; she highly doubted her sister would care if she didn't show up.

Cassandra ran down the sidewalk taking her normal path to the library that was still two miles away, it was a rainy day, the clouds blocking the sun from her view. Rain trickled and splattered onto her face, but she didn't care, the rain was bringing back a memory that she still cherished.

She had been in second grade struggling to read the book _Charlotte's Web_, everyone in the class was already on chapter four, while she was trying to push her way through the second. It just wasn't fair! Why didn't the other kids see letters all jumbled and messed like she did? Cassandra sighed in frustration and set the book on her nightstand; she cupped her face in her hand and stared at the Snoopy poster on her wall. Octavian was at soccer practice; her and her mother would be going to go pick him up soon. She would rather be playing a sport then trying to get through a stupid book.

She twirled the little loose hair at the end of her braid, and waited for her mother to call her downstairs and into the car, the sooner they picked up Octavian the sooner they would be going out for pizza and then to a movie. She could escape the alphabet soup of words that she trying to get through.

"What's wrong my little peach?" He asked while he laid a hand a comforting hand on her shoulder, and pulled her toward him, so her head was resting on her chest.

"I'm not good at reading, Daddy." She whispered sadly in reply.

The God of Sun and Music ran a hand through his sandy brown hair, a nervous habit, he wished he didn't have.

"Well, what are you good at?" Apollo asked, he found it odd that she never questioned how he would just appear wherever she was.

"I'm good at singing and playing the lyre, oh and poetry." Cassandra answered with a little smile while she counted on her fingers.

The driver of the sun chariot placed a kiss on his daughter's forehead. "Yes, and you will get better at reading, I promise you that."

The second grader didn't find it odd that her father vanished in a burst of sunlight, nor that she met him every Sunday afterwards to work on her reading skills at the town's local library.

Cassandra shook her head, her bangs now slightly clinging to her forehead with sweat. She had run all the way to the library with music blaring in her ears, but now it was nothing but a low hum of white noise. She pulled out the IPod buds and began to coil the cord around the musical device. She let out an almost content sigh, as she leaned back on one of the library steps, and let the rain drop onto her closed eyelids. She wearily lifted her arm to look at her tattoo, a lyre on top to symbolize her godly parent as Apollo, along with the seven bars that marked the seven years she had lived at Camp Jupiter after Lupa had claimed her worthy and sent her on her way. She had been ten when her mother had decided to send her off to the Wolf House, better to be with your kind then to be causing trouble for mortals. And of course middle of both the lyre and lines was SPR.

Gods, it all seemed like a lifetime ago that she had joined the third cohort in Camp Jupiter, while her brother, Octavian decided to put his teddy bear murdering skills to use. But did she really want to go back and face a life of more monsters and war games that could mean her death? Well, she couldn't really see herself abandoning her cohort, or Camp Jupiter. Even though now that she thought about it more, Octavian would probably tell Reyna and Jason, the Camp praetors that she was currently struggling with an addiction to pain killers and had to go into rehab. Then again, no one at Camp Jupiter really seemed to care about addictions all that much.

The Daughter of Apollo hauled herself to her feet and uncoiled the cord to her IPod buds; she pushed them back into her ears and was about to head back toward home when the skin on the back of her neck began to crawl. Without a second thought, she unsheathed her sword as it pressed against the flesh of Nico di Angelo's neck. Nico only raised his hands up in defense, showing that he was not going for his own blade.

"Geez put the damn sword away." He hissed, as a mother and a child passed them with an armful of books each.

Cassandra glared daggers at him, but obliged with his demand. It didn't help that he was whole foot taller than her. "Why have you been stalking me? I thought that you being in my bedroom last night was nothing but a nightmare…but now, I'm not so sure…"

"I was." Nico cleared his throat nervously. "I needed to talk you. In fact, I still do, but you were so loopy and drugged up last night, it was trying to talk to one of the dead."

Cassandra only raised an eyebrow at the Son of Pluto, had he truly figured out her deepest desire? To be dead then rather to suffer through agonizing visions.

The Daughter of Apollo crossed her arms over chest, and waited for him to continue while annoyance creased her pixie-like features. The Son of Neptune fiddled with the strings on his black hoodie and tried to figure out how he was supposed to tell her what he needed too.

"You've been in my dreams too, but you were carrying a lyre…" He really did not feel like mentioning the part where she was singing in a language that he could not understand, or the fact that her voice was most beautiful he heard in a very long time. Nico nearly wanted to mentally kick himself, as he felt the heat rising in his cheeks.

Cassandra raised an eyebrow and blew the frustration she was feeling out through her nose. "I can play the lyre if that's what you're asking."

Nico continued to nervously fiddled with the strings from his hoodie, he might have been fifteen years old, but he still was not good at speaking with girls, the only girl he spoke with now, was his sister, Hazel.

"I think we're supposed to go on a quest together." Nico replied, as he tried to stop his nervous habit.

The Daughter of Apollo wanted to laugh, she really did. The fact that the one of the Daughters of Apollo and the Son of Pluto would actually be going on a quest together really did seem with ridiculous, but with her own visions practically screaming the truth at her, she knew that it had to be true.

"Well, we can't just go on a quest all gun-ho. I would need to discuss it with the praetors, and they probably won't even go for it." She sighed and made her way down the steps, with Nico trailing after her.

She turned around to face the Son of Pluto once they had reached the sidewalk, "Don't go all sparkly vampire on me, and start watching me when I sleep."

Nico's face scrunched up in confusion. "I am not a sparkly vampire."

Cassandra almost giggled at the expression on his face, but bit it back, and instead put her IPod buds back into her ears, leaving one to dangle free, as Linkin Park now pumped through the speakers. When she turned to speak to Nico again, he was gone.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Welcome to Chapter five of Pain Killer. Thanks for all of your support and reviews. This chapter is a little longer than the others, but I hope you'll enjoy it nonetheless. If Nico is OOC, please let me know and I will try to fix it. –Maiden of the Heavens (MOTH) **

Chapter 5

The techno music made the cement floor below her sneakered feet hum and the walls shake. The beat pounded in her body, and made her blood quiver. Tonight, she would enjoy herself. It was her last night in her hometown before she left to go back to Camp Jupiter with Octavian. Her plaid black and pink striped skirt whirled around her bare legs as she somehow maneuvered through the crowd toward the bar. The bartender was a willowy girl with short spiky blonde hair with icy-blue tips, and silver earrings that traveled all the way from her earlobe and up. She looked up from the glass she was filling with root beer, and grinned at the Daughter of Apollo.

"All be damned, you're still alive." She grinned, sliding the glass down to a boy with a winged helmet on his head.

Cassandra rolled her eyes and plopped down on one of the barstools. "Adeline, you're going back to Camp aren't you?"

"Of course, I am. What kind of stupid question is that? Hell, if I left our cohort Adrian would have my ass squashed by Hannibal." Both girls shuddered at the thought of her getting sat on by their Camp's pet elephant.

Cassandra could not help but smile; Adeline and Adrian were fourteen-year-old twins. A son and daughter of Minerva, Goddess of Wisdom. And they were also her closest friends. It might of also helped they were in the same cohort. She sipped at her water, while glancing up at Adrian. The Son of Minerva had gotten his hair done into a Mohawk; she had to say that it suited him. It probably didn't help much that he was shirtless, sporting a very toned and muscular body, that was making a lot of the girls and even some boys swoon. She snorted out a giggle into her water, and debated on whether or not to go join the dancers. Before she could get a sure footing on her own thoughts, she was yanked onto the dance floor by the shirtless DJ, while The Wobble pounded from the massive speakers.

She couldn't help the laugh that busted from her lungs or the smile on her face. Adrian smiled at her, as they continued in the massive group dance of The Wobble with the other Demigods and Demigoddesses of Rome. Once the music stopped, howls and whoops of joy erupted from the crowd. Cassandra staggered her now slightly sweaty body back over to the bar and slammed down her glass of water. Heaving slightly for oxygen, she almost choked on an ice cube when she who was walking toward her.

Nico Di Angelo walked toward her, wearing a black t-shirt and black jeans, with steel-toed boots. He mostly stayed in the shadows and avoided the strobe lights and the looks of curiosity from the Roman Children of the Gods and Goddesses. The Daughter of Apollo quickly forced down the ice cube, and made to turn into the crowd and escape. He had left her alone for six days, why couldn't he leave her alone for the rest of her life?

She had nearly made it through the mass of teenagers, when he grabbed her by the arm and spun her around to face him. Good Gods, they were nearly dancing. She could still smell his musky scent of dirt and death, her cheeks burned crimson as he spun her again, this time his milky-white arm was around her waist. The beat of Blow pounding through their veins, and before she could stop herself she started swaying her body to the music. It surprised her, as much it surprised the Son of Pluto. And he awkwardly began to follow her dance moves, that was until he actually began to enjoy himself. It probably didn't help that she was wearing a plaid pink and black skirt, with a black t-shirt that had a winking pink sun on the front. The outfit only pulled far too snugly on her curves; it made his heart beat in his chest, and heat rise to his cheeks.

Good Gods, what was she doing to him? Once the music stopped, which seemed like forever to Nico, she yanked him out of the dance club known as The Winking Owl, and out into the muggy outside air. The crickets chirping and the cars that zoomed past was the only noise for a while, as the two stared at each other. Finally Cassandra huffed and through her hands up into the air with exasperation, she then glared icily and wished she had for once not left her sword with the security staff in The Winking Owl. She really wanted to slice Nico in two, it seemed like he was doing nothing but stalking her.

"W-What the hell was that back there?" Nico blurted out, still very red in the face both from dancing and from embarrassment.

The Daughter of Apollo blinked at him, and her face scrunched up with confusion, making her nose crinkle up. "What was what?"

"A-All the wiggling and squirming, and shuffling your feet, a-and shaking your butt." Nico replied nervously.

Cassandra blinked a couple more times at him in shock, before laughter bubbled past her lips and out into the open air. "Oh Gods, you've never danced with a girl before!"

"I-I have too!" The fifteen year old Demigod snarled, glaring down at the Daughter of Apollo. He had never been so happy to be taller then somebody before.

"Oh, please. When?" Cassandra challenged.

Before the Son of Pluto could even utter out a reply, the ground beneath them shook as if it was an earthquake. Nico caught the Daughter of Apollo around the waist, before she could face-plant into the cement below. She glared at him again, and pushed him away after she was steady on her feet, but then they both had to dive-bomb practically into the gutter, as a speaker from the DJ stand was thrown through the window. Glass shards covered their hair and clothing like deadly diamonds. Cassandra quickly got herself back onto her feet, and picked up her hat, from where it had flown off her head, and onto the street. She promptly dusted it off on her thigh, the best she could, before pulling the black and pink striped beanie back over her hair.

Gods, this couldn't be good at all. There were never any riots, unless Dakota started one. He claimed himself to be Adeline's bodyguard whenever she worked at the teenage dance club, which their father owned. But Dakota hadn't shown up yet, so there wouldn't be any reason for a speaker to randomly be tossed out onto the street. The Daughter of Apollo made her way back into the club through the broken window, rather than trying to struggle to get through the crowd that was leaving in a panicked rush…and they dared to call themselves Children of Rome?

It was the what that was attacking the club that made Cassandra's eyes widen in disbelief. Riots were rare, but Monsters were even more so. The massive Cyclops swung what looked like a piece of a mountain, as if it was a club into the wall, narrowly missing sending Adrian to his death. He had his sword in hand, and his shield in the other. A deep blue owl with golden eyes was painted on the front in honor of his and Adeline's mother, Minerva. Cassandra quickly ran past the security, two muscular Sons of Vulcan that were busy throwing spears at the Cyclops. The Spears sizes compared to the Cyclops only made it look like they were attacking it with toothpicks.

Cassandra had to squeeze her way through the unhinged door of the security area, it was dark and smelled of dust bunnies, but she quickly picked her way through the abandoned weaponry in order to find her sword and shield. Her rather large shield had been made in the shape of the sun, the points for the sun made out of the same celestial bronze, the same materiel that her sword was. She quickly hauled both out along with her, letting the sheathe fall to the ground forgotten as she made her way toward Adeline. The Daughter of Minerva had herself crouched behind the bar, her twelve foot blacksnake whip coiled around her left arm. Pieces of wood were stuck in her pale grey t-shirt, and cement dust covered her black skinny jeans, and grey sneakers. She looked over at her cousin, and almost wanted to cry in relief. She wiped cement dust from her wet cheeks, the mixture of soda, her own tears, and sweat, trickled down her face and onto her already ruined clothes.

"Are you alright?" Cassandra asked, now crouched beside her.

Adeline could only give the mute reply of a nod, before she peered over what was left of the bar. Adrian was busy stabbing the Cyclops in the foot, while dodging blows from the mountain club. The two-minute younger twin quickly sank back into her hiding place, angrily wiping away the tears that still spilled from her teal eyes.

"Do you think you can paralyze it with your whip, while I try to get up high enough to stab it in the eye?"

"What'll that do?" Adeline asked, neither of them had ever faced a Cyclops before, but they had fought other types of monsters.

"Hurt it." Cassandra shrugged. "If we're really lucky at least a little bit."

Adeline uncoiled her whip from around her arm; electricity began to warp around the ends of it. If they were both extremely lucky, they wouldn't die. She leapt out from behind the only part of the counter that was still intact. The whip snapped through the air and wrapped around the Cyclops's arm like a hungry boa constrictor, electricity crackled and sizzled through the air like hot white fire. Their enemy roared in anger and turned hunched over, with his club above his head, to strike the Daughter of Minerva. Suddenly blood spurted from his now broken nose; Cassandra had bashed her sun-shaped shield into it, so hard she might have dislocated her own arm. Letting out her own cry for blood, she then dug her blade into its shoulder in order to propel herself onto the top of its head. The Daughter of Apollo never made it to the top of his head, instead the Cyclops grabbed her with his meaty and large fingers, and flung her off him like an annoying bug. She groaned in pain as she landed on the DJ spin table, and it broke in half underneath the impact.

As Cassandra struggled to get herself out of the mess of equipment, the Cyclops turned to her with murder in his eye, his club raised to squish her, when all of sudden he roared out in agony. A large black piece of earth, in the shape of a lethal spear had screwed him right through his massive gut. Cassandra let out a breath of relief, as the monster dissipated to wherever they went. Nico hauled her to her feet, he seemed slightly out of breath and a little tipsy.

The Daughter of Apollo looked at the Son of Pluto and to the spear-shaped piece of earth, and then back to him. "You did that didn't you?"

Nico nodded, and then smirked a little. "Nice underwear."

Her cheeks flamed red, as she whipped her skirt back into the proper position. She could not believe he had just seen her black underwear with pink polka dots. She glared icily at him. "Pervert."

**A/N: Please leave a review in the box, and I will hopefully have the next chapter posted soon. –Maiden of the Heavens (MOTH) **


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Yes, I know I am late updating. Blame classes and Homework. I do not own PJATO, just the idea for the story, and any OCS. Please review. –Maiden of the Heavens (MOTH) **

Chapter 6

He watched as another diamond plunked its way down to the ground below before his half-sister could catch it. Hazel sighed in disappointment about to climb down from the roof of their father's temple to retrieve it, but instead she stopped herself not really seeing the point, nobody came into Camp Jupiter this early in the morning anyways. Dawn had not even risen; Apollo had not pulled the chariot across yet. Nico let out a breath, as the chilled fall air made his breath turn into fog.

He twisted the silver skull ring on his finger, and watched as the sky began to turn a rosy, dust pink. Every time he was near the Daughter of Apollo, his ears began to ring, and rather loudly too. But he couldn't see how they were connected, and why in some odd way he found Cassandra always on his mind. It bothered him, and it made him feel weak. As if the Son of Pluto would ever find someone could truly love him. Even his own father had to take his stepmother hostage, just to have a wife. Nico picked up the diamond that Hazel had produced from the earth and turned it in between his thumb and pointer finger. When he glanced up, Cassandra was walking past with her eldest sibling, Octavian. She wore overly tight black skinny jeans, black sneakers with dark purple laces. It all seemed to match perfectly with her white and purple beanie, and purple Camp Jupiter t-shirt. Over her shoulder was her sun-shaped shield, her sword belted around her waist, and her cherry-red IPod attached to the belt.

Nico could tell by the deep, dark shadows under her chocolate brown eyes, that her nightmare-visions still haunted her, and were giving her countless sleepless nights. His ears were also ringing, dully and like the annoying buzz of a mosquito. He wished he could just smack the buzz away as if it was an annoying insect. He glanced over, Hazel was giggling with her hand over mouth.

"What's so funny?" He asked, playing with his skull ring again.

"You were staring at that girl…are you dating her?" Hazel responded, seeming almost excited at the thought that her half-brother might be with somebody.

Nico glared icily. "No. Why would you think that?"

Hazel sheepishly shrugged, "The way you were staring at her."

Nico sighed and shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans; he left his sister at the steps of their father's temple, and used shadow-travel to get to the Jupiter Optimus Maximus temple. Cassandra stood by her brother, glancing up the grand statue of Jupiter. She then looked over at her brother, who had a bucket and pail, and a rather large bottle of dawn soap.

"You're going to scrub it from head to sandaled foot aren't you?" She questioned, shaking her head in disbelief.

"If I don't, nobody else is going too." He replied and dunked the sponge into the bucket.

"Best of luck with that." Cassandra dropped the plastic bag she had been carrying that was filled with beanie babies, and left the temple.

She slowly gripped her fingers around the hilt of her sword, and turned to face Nico just as he came out of the shadows. He gave her a half-smile, and held up his hands in defense.

Cassandra let her sword slip back into its sheathe, and crossed her arms over her chest. With narrowed eyes she waited for him to speak.

"I can feel you dying, very slowly. And it's getting really annoying." He said, dryly.

"That is the worst possible way to greet someone. Hello to you too." She smirked, and turned around continuing on her way to the third cohort building.

"You don't care that you're dying do you?" Nico asked, slightly surprised. He continued to follow the Daughter of Apollo.

Her only reply was a shrug, the massive shield on her back, whacking her as she continued down the road to where Praetorian Gate was. It was nothing but silence between the Demigod and Demigoddess that was until she made to where her cohort's building was.

"Are you just going to continue to stalk me?" Cassandra asked, looking over her shoulder at Nico.

The door to the third cohort was wide open, the nine other Campers which shared the same building with the Daughter of Apollo turned to glare at the Son of Pluto. How was he supposed to explain to her, that her life was literally in the palms of his hands. He didn't even know the reasons which frustrated him beyond belief. Good Gods, he hoped this wasn't Aphrodite's way of trying to play matchmaker. Some of the younger campers had busied themselves with unpacking their bags and making their beds, anything to avoid eye contact with Nico. The older ones were glaring at him, swords already unsheathed. He glared at Cassandra, as icily as he possible could, before sinking into the shadows.

Cassandra leaned her shield against the edge of her bunk, while she stretched the linens onto it, and shook the pillows into their cases. She turned around to see Adeline looking at her from where she was on the top bunk, upside down.

"So what's with you and Mister Darkness?" The Daughter of Minerva questioned.

Cassandra sighed, and did the most mature thing she could of at the moment, she gave her cousin the oh-so-loving- middle finger and continued to make her bed with her IPod buds blaring Chevelle in her ears.

The moon shone brightly among the stars, as she used them to guide her path to the bathhouse. Her yellow and orange striped towel was over her shoulder, along with her night clothes, and her toiletry bag. Her IPod blared one of her favorite songs, as she opened the door the bathhouse, and slid into the girls' side. She shimmed out of her dusty jeans and t-shirt, and undergarments before slipping into the lobster-boil hot water. Her IPod had to be left inside the cubby along with her pajamas and sword, so for now she busied herself with lemon scented body wash and softly singing the lyrics to the song she had just been listening too.

'_Do you see the world in different colors? Do see the world in black and grey? Alone in your thoughts, how many others have stood where you stand. Where you stand today? I've stood where you stand. But all, can you…' _

Cassandra opened her dark chocolate eyes to see Nico standing in the doorway to the girls' section, staring at her wide-eyed and red faced. Good Gods, it didn't help that he was only in a towel. With her cheeks burning red, she ducked farther into the water and glared at him.

"Gods, can't you get your kicks somewhere else!" She yelled angrily, and stopped herself from storming out of the room completely butt naked.

Nico stammered an apology and left the room, quickly turning to where the boys resided. A chorus of laughter, crude jokes, and slaps on the backs followed his entrance. Cassandra, still fuming, hauled herself out of the tub after she was done rinsing her hair and body. She hastily dried herself with her towel, and threw on her dark-blue pajama bottoms and matching top.

With the final dribble of spit and toothpaste going down the sink, Cassandra bit her lip and gripped the sink counter so hard her knuckles turned her white. A curse slipped past her lips, as the vision hit her so hard, the whole room spun. Her body finding only option began to fall backwards toward the concrete floor.

Before she could greet her good friend the concrete, her head was cradled against something very cold, almost like ice. She opened her tear-filled eyes, to see Nico holding her. Luke-warm water trickled down from his damp messy black hair onto her cheeks, which were already getting streaked with tears of agony.

"Why do you care if I'm dying?" Cassandra choked out.

"Because you idiot, we have a quest to go on." Nico answered, and lifted her easily into his arms.

She didn't protest as he brought her to cohort and laid her down on the bed. He handed her the pill bottle and water before disappearing into the shadows.

The Son of Pluto, feeling more annoyed with himself for even doing this. Found himself checking-in on the Daughter of Apollo hours later. She lay sprawled across her bed, one arm hanging off the bed, the other over her head. Her mouth slightly ajar, as drooled pooled onto the dark green fabric of the pillow. He couldn't understand what was wrong with him, why did he care so much for someone he hardly knew, and had only gotten to know through his dreams?


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Welcome to chapter seven of Pain Killer! Thank you all so much for your reviews and please keep them coming. As always I do not own PJATO just the plot for this chapter and any OCS. I hope you enjoy the chapter! –Maiden of the Heavens (MOTH) **

Chapter 7

The bowstring still vibrated even after the arrow had left. It hit the target a couple of inches away from the bull's-eye. Cassandra let out a sigh of frustration and went to go tug the arrow out from where it was now imbedded in the target. She had to plant one foot above where the arrow was, just to yank it out. She landed promptly on her behind, and let out a curse in Latin. One of the ear buds that had been blasting Linkin Park in ears fell out, and she turned to look over her shoulder. Nico was standing in the shadows of one of the trees that surrounded the archery range, and he was smirking at her. From the way his chest was heaving up and down, she could tell that he was silently laughing at her. She glared coldly at him and jammed the arrow back into the quiver that was over her back. Her sun-shaped shield was leaning against the same tree that the Son of Pluto was. Her sword as always was hanging around her waist; she adjusted her purple and white stripped beanie and dusted her jeans off before walking over toward him.

"You haven't talked to your praetors yet have you?" Nico asked, he hadn't seen her in two days after all.

The Daughter of Apollo shrugged, she didn't see any point in talking to Jason and Reyna. They would probably just think that all her agonizing visions had finally taken their toll, and she had gone off the deep end. She notched another arrow and left it fly, this time it went way off target, and instead it decided to imbed itself into a nearby faun's behind. It yelped in pain and glared at her, but then yanked the arrow from its hindquarters and ate it, arrowhead and all. She turned to glare at the Son of Pluto. He was doubled over, his arms wrapped around his middle, clutching his ribcage. He was clearly laughing at her; she could hear it loud and clear.

Ignoring Nico's laughing fit; she walked back to where she had gotten the bow and arrows from, and gave them back to person that checked the weapons in and out during practice hours. Cassandra hefted her shield back over back, and decided to make her to the mess hall for lunch. Her stomach was snarling angrily at her, it didn't help that after doing her part in helping her cohort mates clean up their barracks; she had left to go running and never bothered to go the mess hall for breakfast.

Nico had eventually caught up by shadow travel. He was smirking at her in a teasing way. "I thought the children of Apollo were supposed be good at archery, but you really suck."

Cassandra only glared at him, so icily that maybe even the underworld would have frozen over at the look she was giving him. She trudged into the mess hall and sat down beside Adeline and Adrian, and a one of the Daughters of Vulcan. The girl's name was Hebe, after her father's sister, and right now she was busily building something with a screw driver and a bunch of metal scraps. Her green eyes were magnified ten times by her goggles. Cassandra sighed in relief as Nico went off to go bother his half-sister, Hazel.

The Daughter of Apollo ignored the curious looks from the rest of her table, and instead dive bombed into her steak and baked potatoes with a vengeance. She was nearly done with eating the skin from her second potato when Dakota approached their table. Adeline's cheeks automatically turned pink as she stabbed her fork into her dark chocolate cheesecake and tried her best to get a nice small piece onto the utensil before it could break into crumbs.

Dakota cleared his throat and tried desperately to get rid of some of the red Kool-Aid stain off of his mouth before he could get enough courage to speak. "Adeline, could I talk to you for-for a minute?"

Adeline's blush deepened as she sipped some of her milk, and looked over at Cassandra. Since her cousin was still munching on her potato, she was given the thumbs up of approval. Adrian glared at the fifth cohort soldier and then busied himself with his chocolate chip ice cream cookie sandwich, which was the size of a dinner plate.

"If he does anything to hurt her, I am going to chase him down with Hannibal and then the elephant shit on him, so he can die buried in it." Adrian said, licking off the crumbs from his fingers.

Cassandra cringed as the image of such an act formed in her brain; she finished drinking her chocolate milkshake and sighed. She was really looking forward to having double fudge cookie dough ice cream, but now thanks to her overprotective cousin, she had lost her appetite. She sighed at Adrian. "You're disgusting." She got up from the table and left the mess hall before another word could be spoken.

The Daughter of Apollo found herself sitting outside of her cohort, watching the stars while the rest of barrack mates were planning for tomorrow's game of capture the flag. Whispers in the Dark by Skillet, calmed her nerves. She didn't want to go to sleep tonight, even though sleep was what she craved most of all at the moment. It was visions, the ones that turned into nightmares, which frightened her, the most. But finding herself constantly rubbing her eyes, she knew that staying up was inevitable.

Cassandra curled up under the covers of her bed, while everybody else continued to plot. She could feel herself drifting into dreams, no matter how hard she tried to push the thought of sleep away. With Fix Me by 10 years sinking her into sleep, she no longer bothered to fight it anymore.

_The paths before her were only lit by two very dull lanterns, the wicks within them on their last leg. Cassandra looked at both paths, but couldn't figure out which way to go, there were not any signs to help her either. She continued to scan both paths. They both looked the same, the same rocks scattered about in the dirt that formed them, the same tree roots snaking across. Just when she about to take a step forward the lanterns went out, leaving her in the darkness. The Daughter of Apollo bit her lip as fear began to take over. She sank to her knees in her snoopy tank top and shorts, feeling the fear about to completely pull her under. Cassandra roughly wiped the tears that dared to drip down her cheeks away, and looked up as a glow began to light up the middle of the paths. It was soft light, like the ones that came from laptop screens. She looked up at the man that was holding the glowing device, and realization shook her at what he was holding was some type of IPad. Gods forgive her for thinking this, but the man was beautiful, especially with his ashen black wings that spread out behind him. He looked down at her with a grim expression and offered his hand to her._

"_Why must I take one so young?" He said softly, almost to herself._

_Cassandra's face crinkled in confusion, and was nearly about to put her thin hand into his own, but something deep inside her told her not too, as she quickly pulled her hand away. "Who are you?" She demanded shakily, as fear took over her words.  
_

"_I am Death, my dear." He replied._

Cassandra bolted upright, her covers and sheets twisted around her like a strait jacket. She twisted trying to get out of them. A sob broke through as she whacked her head against the headboard of her bed. Gods be good, Death was coming for her in her visions. She screamed and sobbed and continued to bash her head against the wood. Well if he wanted her so damn badly, then he could come and take her now if he wanted too. The whole cohort began to stir, as flashlights were turned on and someone rushed out of the barrack, earrings jingling in their wake, saying something about going to go get help.

Cassandra continued to sob and to scream, she screamed as if someone was torturing her to death. Visions of being Judged and going down the River Styx continued to replay in her mind repeatedly, it felt like a bomb and an earthquake were going off in her head. That was how it hurt.

Suddenly she felt someone holding her to them. Gently rocking her back and forth like a child. She rested her head against whoever was holding her. She could smell their scent now, death and dirt. The musky smell of grave soil. She couldn't bring herself to open her eyes as another vision rocked her to her core, feeling like her skull was about to split in half. She screamed again, this time it was muffled by the fabric of his hoodie.

"N-Nico, I-I don't want to die…" She whispered hoarsely.

"I won't let you." He promised as he fumbled around in the dark for the water bottle, and her bottle of pills. He gave her two instead of one, and slid them into her mouth, while she hastily jugged them down with the water.

"Why won't you let me die?" She questioned, her whole frame was shaking.

"Because I don't want you too." He answered simply. He thanked the Gods that she had her eyes closed, and could not see him blushing.

It took about fifteen minutes for the pain killers to kick in, but when they finally did Nico stood up from where he sat by her bare feet, ready to leave. But Cassandra clutched at his fingers very loosely with her own, and tugged him back down beside her.

"Stay…" She whispered sleepily, "Please…"

Nico was now confused and very nervous, his heart pounding in his chest and ears. He squeezed in beside her and wrapped his arms around her. As he felt her drifting to sleep, he couldn't help but whisper in her ear. "Aren't you afraid me?"

Her whispered reply, which shocked him the most, was no. But for some odd reason it also brought a smile to his lips.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Welcome to chapter eight of Pain Killer. I would like to thank you for your support and reviews! They really mean a lot to me. Anyways, I do not own PJATO, just the idea for this story and any OCs. Enjoy the chapter and please leave a review! –Maiden of the Heavens (MOTH)**

Chapter 8

The Son of Pluto looked down at the Daughter of Apollo, finally understanding his quest. It was his quest alone, not hers too, not theirs together. Just his. He brushed her dark chocolate brown hair that was sweeping into her eyes away. She was still fast asleep, but it was a peaceful sleep, not one filled with visions.

He rubbed his hand across his face, she was his quest. This was a rescue quest. It felt so ironic that he, the Son of the God of the Underworld would be sent to rescue someone from Death's grasp. But how was he supposed to save her from the visions that were killing her? His dark, nearly onyx colored eyes found her sleep-filled and still drug-induced hazy dark chocolate.

He smirked. "Hey, Sleeping Beauty."

Before he could get a good grip on anything, he found himself flat on his back onto the floor, thanks to the pillow she had whacked him with. He was just glad it wasn't her shield. That would have hurt a lot worse. He brushed a goose feather that had come out of the pillow, out of his hair, and righted himself. Cassandra was still glaring at him.

"Why are you giving me the death-glare now?" He asked, he was getting rather annoyed about all of Apollo's children hating him with a passion.

"Why did you call me Sleeping Beauty?" She questioned, trying to rub the sleep out of her eyes, but it wouldn't go away.

Nico just shrugged, it had seemed like a good idea at the time. But maybe calling a tomboy by the name of a Disney Princess wasn't such a good idea after all. He glanced over as the door opened, and Adeline came walking in with her twin, Octavian, and Dakota.

"Who won capture the flag?" The Daughter of Apollo questioned with a yawn.

"No one. It's been cancelled." Octavian replied, and sat down at the edge of the bed.

"What! Why?" Cassandra demanded, feeling panic rising in her chest.

Adeline sighed; the pain killers really had taken a toll on her cousin. "Jason's missing."

"What do you mean he's _missing_? As in he decided to take a stroll and never came back missing?" Cassandra asked she hastily pulled her black and grey striped beanie over her messy hair.

"No." Adrian replied. "We've been looking for him since six this morning. He just disappeared."

The Daughter of Apollo let out a sigh of frustration. This could be bad, really bad. But knowing Reyna, she was probably already sending out search parties. Her cousins were biting their lips in worry, and Adeline was already tugging at her lowest earring. Adeline practically dragged her to the girls' section of the bathhouse, while Cassandra scrubbed away the sleep and sweat away from her skin and changed into a fresh pair of undergarments, dark blue skinny jeans, and one of her dark grey t-shirts, it was one of her Rise Against t-shirts for their album, Nervous Breakdown. She then yanked her grey and black striped beanie back over her head, after racking her fingers through her hair.

Adeline fiddled nervously with earrings again. Cassandra headed back to the barracks and hauled her shield over her back and belted her blade around her waist, her cousin had trailed after her, her saber already around her waist. When it came to fencing, nobody beat Adeline. Cassandra went to sit back on her bunk, when she nearly sat on a brown paper package. She narrowed her chocolate brown eyes at the writing at the package.

_Cassandra Leto Dusoleil_

_Daughter of Apollo, Camp Jupiter _

Cassandra tore away the packaging, almost in a panic. Below the wrapping lay a mahogany box, she carefully undid the silver claps, inside the box lay a golden bow with a deerskin quiver that had her name embossed on it. She gripped the golden longbow in her hand; it felt familiar and like it was meant just for her. Looking at the bottom of the box, she found a letter that had been written on a piece of notebook paper with ink from a quill.

_Dear lovely daughter of mine,_

_I am sorry this gift is so late, don't worry I didn't miss the date. Your grandfather has put Olympus on lockdown; don't bother trying to write me back. I won't receive it. You should feel very lucky you were even able to your birthday present. It took me awhile to figure out how to get to you. The quiver will magically refill with bronze-tipped arrows. Your uncle Vulcan made the arrows for you. I hope your archery skill has improved. Never forget that I love you._

_Love always,_

_Dad_

Cassandra slung the golden longbow over her shoulder, and belted the quiver on the opposite of her blade. She should of known her father would of never forgotten her sixteenth birthday. But it made her worried that his birthday message wasn't in some sort of poetry form. Olympus must be tense for him not to give her some sucky haiku or limerick along with her gift. She looked over at Adeline, and nodded. She then slung her messenger bag over her shoulder. Her father should of known by know that when it came to archery, she was the worst at it. But for some unknown reason he still had hope for her. Maybe it was because Octavian had taken up slicing stuffed animals to bits instead of following in their father's footsteps. Cassandra bit back a groan, and followed her cousin toward their parents' shrines. First they stopped at Minerva's where a bunch of offerings were already piled. There were books about healing, architecture, and science. There was even one about physics. Cassandra tried her best not role her eyes, as Adeline dug around in her knapsack for her offering. She set down what looked like a piece of silver in the shape of heart.

The Daughter of Apollo trailed over to her father's shrine, and dug around in her messenger bag for the tiny envelope that held the ITunes gift card she was going to give him. The other Children of Apollo, her half-brothers and half-sisters had left offerings of poetry and books about poetry. But unlike them, she knew that her father had a massive ITunes library that needed major updating. On the front of the envelope she had written. _I hope this helps you to find a better taste in music. _

She left the envelope tucked in one of her half-brother's offered poetry books, and was about to head back toward the barracks when she felt someone grasp her shoulder. Instead of going for her blade, she found her fingers brushing against one of the black raven feathers on one of the arrows. Had her father and uncle cursed her? Her fingers still feeling the tickle of the feathers, she turned to face the person who had a grip on her shoulder.

She could automatically feel her cheeks flaming pink. "Hi, Nico…"

He gave her a half-smirk as a reply, before he began to nervously tug at the strings of his hoodie. "A-Are you feeling better?" He asked, trying to hide the concern in his voice.

"Yeah, a lot better." Cassandra said, looking down at her sneakers. "Umm…thanks for staying with me last night…"

"No problem." He said and awkwardly took her hand in his own.

It felt right holding her hand in his, and even entwining their fingers, but he slowly unknotted them. How was he supposed to tell her that he was supposed to save her? Even though he didn't have a clue how, he would figure something out, before she ran out of time.

He had to save her, not only because it was his quest. But because, and he could no longer deny it, he was in love with her.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Thank you all so much for your reviews, please keep reviewing! I do not own PJATO, just any OCS and the plot for this story. Enjoy the chapter! –Maiden of the Heavens (MOTH)**

Chapter 9

Three months had passed and there still was not any sign of Jason. Now the whole Camp was up in chaos, as a second praetor had to be chosen and soon. The Daughter of Apollo felt awful for Reyna, she practically had other campers at her heels begging to be chosen to lead. But that wasn't how it worked. Cassandra found herself leaning into Nico's chest, another vision had just ricocheted through her head so badly; it felt like a field mine had exploded inside. Tears still leaked from her eyes, and no matter how much she didn't want the Son of Pluto to see her like this, she didn't have another choice.

While another vision rocked her already agonized body, Nico had put on her Run as Fast as You Can list on from her IPod to soothe her. Not that it was helping, war and death, her friends dying, her family dying, played in front of her eyes like an R-rated movie. A cry of pain broke past her lips as she buried her face into the front of Nico's shirt. Wait for Me by Rise Against pounded in her ears, gods how much longer could she deny it? She had feelings for the Son of Pluto. So very deep feelings, that she could no longer deny that she was in love with him, but could not figure out a way to tell him without it being completely embarrassing.

She pulled her ear buds from her ears when the pain had subsided to a tolerable level and the song had ended. Cassandra hastily kissed Nico on the cheek before her own face matched the tomato-red of his own.

He grazed his ice-cold fingers along the place where her lips had touched his cheek, and quirked an eyebrow at her. "What was that for?"

Cassandra shrugged. "For being there for me…even though you don't really have too…"

"I really don't mind…" Nico replied, just as nervous.

The Daughter of Apollo and the Son of Hades got to their feet from where they were sitting on the front steps of the third cohort barracks. Cassandra had tried to ignore the whispers and snickers behind her back about her and Nico dating, but out of all honesty, they didn't really any bother her anymore. She grabbed her sun-shaped shield from where it leaned against the outer wall of the barracks, and kissing Nico quickly one the cheek once again, she put her IPod buds in and decided to head toward the archery range.

Octavian found his little sister a couple of hours later yanking her arrows free from the archery target that was now losing its stuffing. He couldn't help but smirk, their father would be proud of her, but it was because of the weapon that she was getting better or was it because of her own determination? He gently laid a hand on her shoulder, as she turned around to face him. He could tell by her pale face and tear-stained cheeks that she had recently suffered another vision.

"What was it this time?" He asked as they plopped down underneath one of the trees.

"A Demigod with terrible power, he could control the water around him. Claimed to be a Son of Neptune." Cassandra replied shakily, and took her chocolate chip cookie dough flavored milk out of her messenger bag, and cracked open the bottle.

Octavian sighed and stretched out in the shade that the tree offered. "This Son of Neptune that you foresaw has already arrived."

His little sister sipped at her milk before she was calm enough to reply. "Do you trust him?"

The Augur shook his fair haired head. "No. What kind of Roman would I be, if I trusted a Greek?"

Cassandra nearly choked on her drink. "He's Greek! Oh Gods, save us."

The siblings stood and headed back toward the Mess Hall. "Which Cohort volunteered to take him in?" She prayed it was not her own, then again the other centurion of her cohort was not very trusting of new arrivals, and neither was she.

"The fifth." Octavian replied simply.

The two parted ways after nearing the Mess Hall, Cassandra swiftly embraced her brother, and he squeezed her back. He had to check on the first cohort, while she was dying for a nap. A little snooze before the War Games started wouldn't be such a bad idea, she was hoping the third cohort was going to win this year, but nothing was for certain.

The Daughter of Apollo let out a sigh when she realized that Hank wasn't in any of the barracks, she would have to track down the Son of Mercury. She chugged down the rest of her milk, and got rid of the mustache by using the back of her hand.

"Oh, very sexy." A male voice chuckled behind her.

She opened her dark brown eyes to see Nico standing there. "I thought you heading back to the Underworld to speak with your father?"

Nico shrugged. How was he supposed to tell that Thanatos was missing? But that since Death was no longer in the picture that he also had more time to figure out how to lift the Curse from her visions. He still had more time to save her, but since he had figured that rescuing her from death was his quest, he hadn't told her. Was he really that afraid of what she would think of him?

"Nico, you okay?" Cassandra asked as her fingers slowly entwined his icy ones.

The Son of Pluto took her hand and placed it against his chest. "Yeah, but has Letus been in your…visions lately?" He knows by now to call them visions, she no longer dreams. She has been plagued with nothing but dark and twisted visions ever since Jason Grace vanished from Camp Jupiter. And the visions are literally killing her.

"No." The Daughter of Apollo replied and yanked her pale blue and white striped beanie back securely on her head. Her fingers raked into her choppy dark chocolate hair. She had only chopped off the tresses that had grown down to her shoulders last week, with Octavian's ceremonial dagger, when he wouldn't miss it of course.

Reyna had sent out search parties, and she been in one of them with her cousins, and Dakota. They had searched for days with no sign of their second praetor. And in those days that they had searched they had fought monsters that they killed, but were only brought back after a couple of hours.

"Why won't the monsters die?" She whispered aloud, only for Nico to look at her with concern.

Nico could only shrug, even though he knew, he did not wish to frighten her more. Instead he held her close to him and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, after he had pulled off her beanie. He then shadow-traveled away, just as Hank came into the barracks to find a very red faced Daughter of Apollo.

Nico had whispered three little words into her ear before he had vanished, and those three little words had left her heart still for a couple of seconds.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Welcome to chapter ten! I do not own PJATO, just any OCS and some of the plot, since this based off the in-between stuff in the Lost Hero series. Enjoy the chapter! –Maiden of the Heavens (MOTH**

Chapter 10

Cassandra sighed and pulled her amethyst purple and white striped beanie over her messy chopped chocolate brown hair and made her way toward the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus. She tried to ignore her aching body as she entered. The War Games were over, even with collaborating with the first, second, and fourth cohort, it did nothing to stop the losers of the fifth cohort from gaining victory. Her pride was hurt more than her actual body, but bruises and scrapes healed, as would her pride.

It also didn't help that at the end of it, Gwendolyn had died with a pilum in her back. But then was brought back, because she didn't have a coin her something to that effect. The Daughter of Apollo had stopped paying attention once everyone had started to blame her brother for her death. Just because he had been the only one without a pilum and had been standing behind Gwen meant nothing. Octavian would never be so coldhearted as to murder someone could he?

She found her brother sitting down cross-legged under the statue of Jupiter, his ceremonial knife tearing through the beanie babies without mercy. He wasn't slaughtering them out of the reasoning for a vision, but out of anger. She was just as angry as he was, but probably just a little bit less. She hefted her shield and her longbow from her back and laid them on the floor, before she sat down. Her sword and quiver stayed belted securely around her waist.

Cassandra gently took the knife out of her brother's grasp and set it aside. She flinched in sympathy for the poor beanie baby zebra that had been slashed, the fluff clinging to Octavian's toga and blue jeans. He looked up at her, still seething, his ocean blue eyes ablaze with fury and betrayal.

"You didn't really kill Gwen did you?" Cassandra questioned.

Octavian merely glared icily at her before he bothered to reply with a curt. "No."

And then his anger boiled over, even his own sister was accusing him of murdering Gwen?

"You don't believe me either!" He bit out in rage, spittle flying as the words came from his mouth. "How can you even think that I'm lying to you, Cass?"

"I didn't say that I didn't believe you! It's just that the evidence against you…"

"We're brother and sister!" Octavian growled, "We aren't supposed to doubt each other!"

"Well, Maybe I wouldn't doubt you if you weren't such a power-hungry jackass!" Cassandra retorted, right now all she wanted to do was bash some sense into her brother's head with her shield. "Praetors aren't supposed to be blackmailing others for votes, Octavian!"

The Daughter of Apollo gathered the rest of her weaponry and stormed out of the temple, leaving her brother to rip open beanie babies to shreds with his ceremonial knife. They had fought before, all siblings fought. But it had never escalated this badly.

Nico found Cassandra several hours later sitting outside the steps of her bunkered; she looked just as warn as he felt. He sat down beside her. She glanced over at Nico's black toga and raised an eyebrow. "What's with the fanciness?"

"The meeting to decide about Mars's quest." Nico answered, he gently entwined their fingers.

"Oh right. So they're going…with that Greek?" Her voice was filled with worry, and a twinge of not-so-much-trust toward Percy.

"You don't have to worry, Cass." The Son of Pluto tried to reassure to her.

Cassandra shrugged. "I guess…" Frank and Hazel were not her friends, she merely knew them. And she couldn't exactly bring herself to trust Percy Jackson, claimed Son of Neptune. So why was she worried?

She looked at Nico and laid her head on his chest. "You're leaving too…"

"Somebody has to find the Doors of Death…" Nico replied and planted a kiss to her hair.

Cassandra sighed, she knew that something was horribly wrong. Monsters weren't dying and the dead were starting to come back to life, at least according to the nasty visions she had been having while Nico and the others were at the Senate meeting.

"Be careful…please?" She whispered into the fabric of his toga.

The Son of Pluto kissed her hair again and stood to Shadow-Travel, when he was knocked flat on his back by the vision-weary teenage-demigoddess. A smirk flittered across his face, considering that she now pink in the face with embarrassment and straddled on top of him only in a pajama shirt and shorts.

"I…umm…wanted to tell you something…before you left…" She stammered out in a whisper.

Nico grinned, "Oh really?"

Cassandra nodded and swallowed hard. "I-I love you…"

Nico could not stop grinning. "Are you sure about this Daughter of Apollo?"

Cassandra nodded vigorously, "Uh-huh…very sure."

"Good, cause I love you too." He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her, she could feel the coolness of his skull-ring against her cheek as he did, her fingers curling into his toga.

Once they parted, both of their cheeks were pink. Cassandra went to wiggle off of him, but Nico held her around the waist and pulled her close. "So what does this make us?" He heard her murmur.

"I guess, you're my girlfriend now." Nico replied.

The Daughter of Apollo blushed even more. "Kay…" Her eyes suddenly lit up from their sleepy and slightly drugged induced state. "I almost forgot…" She gently slid the seeds into the pocket of his jeans beneath his toga. "I hope whatever these seeds are…that they help you somehow…"

Nico's face creased with concern over her words, but he forced it away as he kissed her again. He shadow-traveled away with the last words she had whispered still echoing in his ear.

"Come back to me…"

Adeline and Adrian came back to third cohort bunkered to find their cousin, clinging to her pillow, sobbing as she struggled to pry open the bottle that held her pain killers. The vision that plagued her, moments after Nico left could not be true…it just couldn't…

**A/N: Leave a review in the box, please! –Maiden of the Heavens (MOTH) **


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Updating is going to be slow for a while, Blame College and these awful classmates that I am forced to work with. Anyways, I do not own PJATO, just some of the plot and any OCS. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Please leave a review in the box. –Maiden of the Heavens (MOTH) **

Chapter 11

Whimpers of fear and uncertainty escaped from her lips, she lay curled on her bed, buried under her blankets. Her eyes were squeezed shut, and she curled into herself even more. If she could cry anymore she would, but the Daughter of Apollo does not have tears left to shed, so all that now shook her frame was dry hiccups. Her cousins, Adeline and Adrian had found this way, and the only thing that the DJ of the Winking Owl could think of doing was running off to go get her brother, Octavian.

The two of them were not exactly on speaking terms yet after their fight, but after seeing his sister in so much pain, all he could do was get her fallen pill bottle from the floor and hope that even if he could not ease her pain, that at least the pills would.

When the Daughter of Apollo awoke, the bunkered she was in was pitch black, filled with only the noise of snoring bunkmates and the squeaking of their mattresses as they shifted into new positions. Cassandra sighed and unclipped her IPod from where it hung at her sword belt, she now glad that her father had given it an immortal battery, she carefully wiggled her feet into her sneakers, and found a hoodie lying on the floor. Not thinking on whether it was hers or not, she pulled it over her head, and was overwhelmed by the scent of death and graveyard. It was Nico's hoodie. She patted the fabric until she heard what she was looking for, the familiar crumple-crumple of notebook paper. She took the note from out of the hood, and clutched in her hand as tears anew began to pool at the edge of her dark chocolate eyes.

Still feeling the effects of her pain killers, Cassandra made her way out of the out of the bunkered and onto the steps. Using the moonlight, she was somehow able to read Nico's messy handwriting.

_I hope that my sweatshirt is able to give you some comfort when your in pain. I promise, I will come back to you…I love you._

_NICO _

The Daughter of Apollo smiled a little, and slipped the note into the pocket of her shirt. Feeling like falling back to sleep might be impossible, she stood about to make her back into the bunkered to grab her archery equipment, when the feeling of being watched made her stop. She tensed, and carefully gripped the hilt of her blade. Turning with a glare, at the person who was silhouetted by the moonlight, she still did let go of her sword once she saw who it was.

A cloak might have wrapped around Persephone's willowy frame, but that did not stop her raven hair from blowing in the cool wind, nor her honey colored eyes that glistened with wariness at the Daughter of Apollo. A smile flickered across her mouth, at Cassandra. Who would have thought that the God of Music and Truth would want to name of his children after one of the lover's he had cursed. As she neared the child with pained eyes, Cassandra did not bother to lower her sword.

"You're the one who put that bag of seeds under my pillow to give to Nico." She said quietly as to not wake the rest of the cohort.

"Yes, child. Did you really think that I would leave Nico without a way to protect himself?" the Goddess of the Underworld questioned.

The Daughter of Apollo did not say anything in reply and found it really unsettling when the Wife of Pluto sat on the steps of the bunkered and patted an open spot next to her. Raising an eyebrow in suspicion the Demigoddess sat down beside her boyfriend's stepmother. The two sat in silence for a while before Persephone spoke.

"Tell me Daughter of Apollo, do you truly love my stepson?"

"Of course I do, Queen Proserpina!" Cassandra bit out, feeling rather angry that the Wife of Pluto would think that she would be using her stepson. The minor goddesses merely smiled at the half-breed, her stepson, Nico, had actually found someone who loved him. She took the Daughter of Apollo's frail and thin hand in her own, this child of one of her past suitors was Cursed and dying, but by whom she could not tell.

"You know you are dying, don't you?" The Queen of the Underworld asked gently, watching as Cassandra nodded sadly and tears that pooled at the edges of her dark chocolate eyes. For reasons unknown to herself the Daughter of Ceres gently held the Cursed Demigoddess to her.

"I thought I wanted to die, 'cause the pain from my visions hurt so bad. B-But now that I have Nico…I love him…and I don't want to die anymore…" Cassandra sniffled.

Persephone sighed, wondering if her husband could do anything to help the girlfriend of his son, Nico. She did not wish for this child to have to go to the Underworld so soon, and to have to face Judgment. She could not believe that she cared for this Demigoddess.

"If you're thinking of taking me with you to the Underworld, I can't…" Cassandra said and stood. "I will stay by my cohort and fight alongside them."

Proserpina shook her head with amusement, this Daughter of Apollo, truly was a Child of Rome. She hugged Cassandra one last time, the child as stiff as a board in her embrace before she departed back to the Underworld. What was she going to tell Hades?

Her arm was sore, but still she kept notching back arrows and releasing them over and over again. Anything to stay awake. Anything to keep away from the visions that haunted her behind her eyelids. Finally the exhaustion became too much, dizziness and agony struck her head like a hammer, Cassandra sunk to her knees, the golden longbow still in hand.

Another vision, another vision of Nico trapped somewhere she didn't know. Another vision of Nico dying.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Welcome to chapter twelve! Thank you all for being so patient with my slow updating. I've been having a rough time lately with classes and such, and just got out of gallbladder surgery yesterday. So please leave a review! –Maiden of the Heavens (MOTH) **

Chapter 12

He weakly pushed another pomegranate seed into his mouth, and chewed down on it slowly. Anything to survive a little longer, trapped in this damn suffocating jar. When his eyes began to slip shut and his breathing began to slow, the only thing keeping Nico from thinking he was at Death's door, were the three words that Cassandra had whispered in his ear. "Come back to me…"

The Son of Hades would find a way to return to her and lift the Curse that was killing her. She was not only his quest, but she was somehow imprinted on his heart. Just like voice and smile, her laugh, her crazy dance moves, her screams of pain, and tears of agony were imbedded in his brain. All that is keeping him going now, helping him to survive, is thinking of her. Cassandra is the Light that showed him just how wonderful and happy being loved could make someone. He never thought that in a million years that it would happen to him.

Nico can feel his breathing starting to slow, and his eyelids sink closed. Cassandra's last words sill echo in his mind like a sweet song, the touch of her kiss still lingers on his mouth, and touch of her skin, holding each other's hands, still makes his fingers tingle. All he wants to do is return to her, to hold her close. But fear is starting to choke him, and for once the Son of Hades is afraid of death, is afraid of dying.

He grabs his sword from where it is lying between his legs, and unsheathes it. He plunges the sword into the hard clay of the jar; another jagged line joins the other two. The sword clatters to the bottom of the jar by his feet.

Another seed gone, more time for him to live his lost.

She bashes her sun-shaped shield into the head of monster, as it skull cracks in half, oozing blood. It splatters onto her cheeks and hair, but the Daughter of Apollo could care less about the smelly junk slipping down her face like tears. Her dark brown chocolate eyes burn with the actually tears she wants to shed, but does not have any time too. Her short sword plunges into the stomach of another monster, and she quickly turns and roundhouse kicks a monster that is behind her in the chest. It squeals in agony, as her shield crashes into its face. The other monster that was once in front of her also cries out as she yanks her sword free from where she had imbedded it in its flesh.

The war had come to Camp Jupiter far too quickly for her tastes, even though they had been ready for it, the only thing that Cassandra had wanted to do was stay hidden in the third cohort barracks and pretend that she wasn't even there, that she didn't exist. But no, she could not abandon her friends and family, especially with a war at their feet. She will fight alongside her cohort like a true Child of Rome. She slips her sword back in to its sheathe, and yanks her shield back to wear it once was, strapped across her back. Instead, she strings her golden longbow, and notches an arrow into the string. She ducks a blow from a Cyclops's club. The club was once a piece of one of the temple, one of the columns that held it in place. If she had not have dodged, she probably would have been squished flat. Dead, and then Letus would take her to the Underworld to be judged, she shook her head to clear it of the deadly thoughts, and let out a breath as the celestial bronze tipped arrow flew true, and landed in the eye of a smaller Cyclops.

Arrows continued to fly from her longbow, she kept her eyes peeled for Adeline and Adrian, and of course for her brother, Octavian. But this war was useless without the Eagle. Bitter hatred stormed through her body as she whipped out her shield and sent it flying through the air like a large boomerang. The celestial bronze tips that surrounded her sun-shaped shield sliced through the monsters like a knife through soft butter. If the Son of Neptune did not return with the Eagle, Camp Jupiter was doomed.

She felt her rage boiling over, how could Reyna just leave the fate of their home in the hands of a Greek? Cassandra looked over from the arrow she was notching, the black feathers tickling her fingers, when she stumbled back in both shock and fear, nearly dropping the arrow. A Cyclops wearing a flag of Rome like a bib was charging toward them, along with a massive fluffy black dog the size of a tank, hauling a cart full of Imperial Gold weapons. Maybe there was still hope after all! When she saw the Son of Neptune carrying the bronze eagle, she knew somewhere in her heart that they could win this.

Her heart nearly dropped in her stomach when she heard Percy call the giant to a one-on-one fight! Was he insane? He could get himself killed! She was dragged back into the crowd of her fellow Romans, while her brother, Octavian gently hugged her. They all watched in awe as the Son of Neptune fought the giant, Polybotes. The giant fell after a while, defeated. Cassandra wanted to sink to her knees in exhaustion, but she knew that wasn't going to happen anytime soon, especially when the whole Camp decided to name Percy, Praetor. It shocked her to the core, was not a single Roman in their right of mind anymore? She looked up at Octavian's face, only to see it dark with rage and jealousy. Percy had collapsed to the ground, and was taken to the fifth cohort by Hazel and Frank.

Cassandra made her way slowly to the bathhouse, she sunk herself slowly into hot water as it soothed her aches and pains. She would probably end up with a couple of bruises, but that was normal. Sighing, she sank herself down even farther until her nose was skimming the top. The Daughter of Apollo was not sure if she should tell the Daughter of Pluto about the visions she had been having about Nico. But she did not want to worry Hazel, nor did she wish to speak to her. According to whispers around the Camp, Hazel had been cursed too. But with what type of Curse, no one knew. Cassandra dunked herself into the tub, as soap and shampoo washed away and floated to the top. She might have felt clean now, but the worry about Nico would not ease away. She yanked on matching black undergarments along with dark blue jeans, and an onyx black t-shirt that had _Love is a friendship set to Music _in blood red lettering. She then pulled her black and blood red striped beanie over her damp hair and brushed her bangs away from her tired eyes.

With her knee-high sneakers on she sat down beside her brother in the mess hall. Octavian was still grumpy and was stabbing his medium-rare steak with a vengeance with his knife. His sister gently took the knife out of her brother's hand.

"I think it's dead enough, Octi…" he only scowled at her and then shoved a rather large chunk into his mouth.

Cassandra shook her head and smiled in thanks to one of the wind spirits that brought her a large slab of chocolate cake with fudge filling, cookie dough ice cream, and a large glass of chocolate milk. She glanced over to see Adeline sitting in Dakota's lap while she mixed in another mound of sugar into his Kool-Aid with her spoon. Then she saw Dakota leave a rather messy red Kool-Aid stain kiss on her cousin's cheek found herself almost choking on a sip of chocolate milk.

Everyone was happy, everyone was safe.

Except for Nico…he was alone and slowly dying.

When Cassandra opened her eyes, not even realizing that she had closed them. She put a finger to her cheek, and found that she was crying.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Welcome to Chapter 13 of Pain Killer. I hope you enjoy it! Don't worry there will be plenty of action filled chapters after this. I do not own PJATO, just some of the plot for this story, and any OCS. Please leave a review in the box! –Maiden of the Heavens (MOTH)**

Chapter 13

Repair work was slow and tiring to say the least, Cassandra glanced over at her brother who was going over rebuilding plans with Reyna, her hounds at her side like usual. She was not sure where she belonged right now, everyone that was able was helping with the construction and she was not one to pick up a hammer and a nail, or mix concrete. Being near heavy machinery, or Hannibal while he was hauling heavy slaps of stone made her nervous, not to mention that she was a little clumsy when it came to tools.

The dome on the Senate House was still cracked; craters lingered around the plaza, so large that if you fell in one it might take a week just to crawl out, not to mention that some of the Daughter of Apollo's favorite statues and fountains in New Rome were nothing but pieces of rubble now. The People of New Rome were on edge and nervous, like a hungry lion pacing back and forth in its cage, restless. The reason for this restlessness? Greeks were coming to their home; their sworn enemy was going to set foot in their territory.

In order to calm her own fragile nerves, the Demigoddess and gone to archery range and fired arrows until the target was ragged and stuffing pooled around it, after that she had gone to practice with her sword, only to have to pick pieces of hay from the now useless dummy out of her black and gold beanie, she still found herself brushing bits off of Nico's hoodie, which she now wore every day.

Cassandra ducked inside one of the cafes, in order to escape some the noise from the construction and the chatter from the restless citizens of New Rome. She unclipped her IPod from where it hung on her sword belt and placed the buds in her ears, before listening to _Escape the Fate. _She had barely gotten a nibble out of her chicken pot pie, when the other costumers of the café began to pool out of the eatery and toward the lake. The Daughter of Apollo sighed, music still blaring in her ears, as she shoved a rather large chunk of her meal into her mouth before following one of the members of her cohort out toward where everyone else was going.

A Warship was floating above the lake, bronze shields hung on its sides, but the thing that made Cassandra grip at her sword's hilt was the massive golden dragon head with ruby red eyes that was at the front of the ship. While children and even their parents gawked in awe, she found herself tensing, preparing herself for a fight that was sure to come. Horns began to blare from the Via Principalis, good that meant that Reyna had not forgotten that through all this chaos that she was still their praetor. Cassandra sighed in relief as her fellow soldiers came rushing toward the city in armor, with spears at the ready. Even Hannibal had been released from his duty of helping with construction to join the ranks.

The Daughter of Apollo joined her cousins, Adeline and Adrian, while Terminus was trying his annoyingly best to get the ship to leave. Cassandra was about to pull her sun shield from where it hung on her back, so she could slip her arm through it, to be ready to defend her home, when Percy their new praetor emerged from the crowd. The Daughter of Apollo rolled her eyes, seeing the purple cape that was draped across his shoulders; he had Hazel and Frank with him. Of all the Demigods and Demigoddess of Rome, the rest of the cohorts had to pick a Son of Neptune.

Cassandra watched as the Greeks emerged from their ship from a rope ladder above, she let her sword slip back into its sheathe and her shield whacked heavily against her back. She could feel Adeline tense against her, her whip still coiled around her arm like an angry snake. A smile almost split across her nervous features as Reyna made her through the crowd of soldiers and fellow Romans. Gods be good, couldn't she tell them to leave? Cassandra watched, entirely on edge as Reyna greeted their former Praetor, Jason. Cassandra felt herself relax slightly now that she knew that he was back with them, and alive.

She watched as the Demigoddess with blond hair and sky-blue eyes surged forward toward the Son of Neptune. The air around her seemed to tense considerably as the pair kissed, some of her fellow Romans reaching for weapons that they didn't have. That was until the blonde haired Daughter of Minerva flipped Percy over her shoulder and onto the pavement, cries of shock and alarm rippled through the crowd like a tidal wave. Soldiers and citizens broke from the crowd to aid their praetor that was until Reyna quickly took hold of the situation.

Her voice broke through the tension easily enough, a shouted order, "Hold! Stand down!"

She heard Jason clear his throat nervously before he said to Reyna, "So, yeah,.. it's good to be back."

The Daughter of Apollo listened intently as their former Praetor introduced the other Greeks. The girl with the eagle feather in her hair was Piper, a Daughter of Venus no doubt by the way she had tried to Charms Speak on Terminus. The boy with the tool-belt flashed a peace sign after the Son of Jupiter had introduced him as Leo, obviously a Son of Vulcan. Then he introduced the blonde haired girl who had Judo-flipped Percy as Annabeth.

She vaguely tuned out the conversation between Annabeth and Reyna that was until the praetor clapped her hands in a formal manner and said, "It seems we have a lot to discuss. Centurions!" Cassandra moved next to her fellow Centurion of the third cohort, Hank. First things first, they had to go tell the rest of the legion what was going on before a war broke out. Less violence was normally a good thing among the Children of the Gods and Goddesses.

The Daughter of Apollo was about to leave with the Son of Mars, when Octavian elbowed his way through the crowd looking not at all pleased, not liking Reyna choice at all to allow the Greeks into Camp Jupiter. "You're letting these intruders into the _camp_?" Once he finally reached their praetor, he let his worries be known. "Reyna, the security risks…"

Reyna answer was stern as was look she was giving the augur. "We're not taking them to the camp, Octavian. We'll eat here, in the forum."

"Oh, _much_ better." Cassandra brother's grumbled, "You want us to relax in the shadow of their warship." He walked away, the three teddy bears that hung on his belt swaying.

"You have my orders. Go." Reyna had gotten far too use to having Percy as backup.

The Daughter of Apollo glanced back at the warship as she helped Hank haul a couch to the forum; a shudder ran down her spine. She did not like the look of the Greeks' ship at all; it was giving her a really bad feeling in her stomach.

Once the forum looked like a fancy furniture showroom in a department store, Cassandra plopped herself down by her cousins, while the aurae floated above. She grabbed herself four slices of pizza and a cheeseburger, while grabbing a chocolate milkshake from a passing tray with her open hand. Adeline smiled at her cousin from where she was nibbling on a triple bacon cheeseburger. "So what Care Bear did Octavian sacrifice?"

"Love-a-Lot Bear. It seemed like a very good choice." Cassandra replied, and raised her glass as Reyna toasted to friendship, but rolled her eyes at the very thought of the two Camps ever getting along.

But when she heard Percy simply giving back the praetor position to Jason like it was no big deal, she was ready to throw a chocolate pie into his face, while Adrian kindly started whacking Octavian on the back after he started choking, yep this was all going fantastically.

After her brother had recited the Prophecy of Seven along with the unasked for help of Annabeth, Hazel piped up once the Doors of Death were mentioned. "My brother, Nico, went looking for those doors,"

Cassandra could feel her palms starting to sweat, she quickly gripped her milkshake glass and slurped down the remains until she gave herself brain freeze. She wanted to tell them what she knew, that Nico was in some place dark and dank, and smelled like death. Nico was dying, and she wanted to help him. She wanted him to come back to her alive. But these Greeks made her nervous, as nervous as their warship floating outside.

He was running out time, and so was she. What if Letus came for her before Nico came back?

A shudder slid down Cassandra spine, she wanted to scream, but instead she ordered another refill on her chocolate milkshake and watched the conversation unfold around her.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Welcome to chapter fourteen of Pain Killer, I hope you enjoy this extra-long chapter. Please read and review! –MOTH (Maiden of the Heavens) **

Chapter 14

Cassandra watched with shaking hands and a numbing brain freeze as the Daughter of Pluto continued. "He disappeared." Once she heard those two words, Cassandra's chest tightened in fear and worry, mostly for Nico. But that seasick, tossing and turning feeling her stomach wouldn't stop, and neither would the splitting headache that was starting to form. She just _knew _something awful was about to happen. She tried to her best to focus on the rest of what Hazel was saying, "I'm afraid…I'm not sure, but I think something bad happened to him."

The Daughter of Apollo nearly launched herself to her feet, but instead she dug her fingernails into the wood of the table. Something bad had happened to Nico, he was trapped, trapped and dying. And she wanted to tell them, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She just couldn't trust these Greeks. Her eyes began to wet at the edges with tears, she was so tired of crying. She was so tired of the visions that were killing both her already fragile sanity and her heart. She almost wanted to laugh when she heard the Son of Neptune say that they were going to find Nico, promising that they would at least _look _for him. They were also looking for the Doors of Death, just like her boyfriend, but they were fools to think that they could survive the Mare Nostrum.

Her blood ran cold when she heard that they had freed Letus, meaning that instead of just haunting her in visions, he could now come to claim her. Nico had even sensed that she was close to death, but she did not want to die without knowing that Nico, was still alive. And yet with the Doors of Death still open she could still live, if anyone would be stupidest to call what she did now living. Sucking down painkillers like candy until the pain numbed away to a dull ache was not living. Being with Nico, the Son of the Lord of the Underworld was living. It was so ironic it was almost laughable.

Cassandra somehow found the strength to shake herself from her thoughts in order to hear that these so-called prophesized seven were going to go Rome and then Greece. She glanced up from a large gulp of her chocolate milkshake when her brother shot to his feet, rage clear in his face and eyes.

"What? We're just supposed to _accept _that? Without a vote in the senate? Without a proper debate? Without-" Her brother's complaining was stopped short when the Cyclops came bounding in with the Hellhound. The sickly looking harpy was on the Hellhound's back, seeming agitated about something as was the Cyclops.

The Cyclops wrung his meaty hands before he was able to speak, "Ella is scared."

"N-n-no more boats," Ella muttered to herself while she picked at her red feathers, which matched her stringy red hair. "_Titanic, Lusitania, Pax…_boats are not for harpies."

It was when Ella covered her ears with her hands and began to shout, that Cassandra ignored the protests of the Cyclops, and the conversation between Hazel and Frank. "_The Mark of Athena burns through Rome. Twins snuff out the angel's breath, who holds the key to endless death. Giants' bane stands gold and pale, Won though pain from a woven jail." _Cassandra's dark chocolate brown eyes grew wide; everyone had grown so silent that you could have heard a pin drop. She watched as Percy tried to get the Cyclops and Harpy to leave.

But it was far too late to try avoiding whatever had just happened, and they all knew it. "Hold on." Cassandra looked over at her brother; he was gripping one of his teddy bear's and was strangling it with shaking hands. His sky-blue eyes were fixed on Ella when he spoke. "What was that she said? It sounded like-"

Suddenly Frank blurted out the worse excuse that Cassandra had ever heard. "Ella reads a lot. We found her at a library."

It made anger boil her veins when Hazel went along with the excuse. Were their own people betraying them for these Greeks? "Yes! Probably just something she read in a book.

And even the red harpy was trying to help. "Books. Ella likes books." The creature seemed calmer now and was busy sitting on the large Hellhound's back preening her wings.

If there was one thing that Cassandra was pleased for, it was her brother's relentlessness to give up on a matter such as this. "That was a prophecy," He insisted, still strangling the poor teddy bear. "It sounded like a prophecy."

The whole room was dead silent once more. It was Annabeth, the grey-eyed blonde who broke it. "Really, Octavian? Maybe harpies are different here, on the Roman side. Ours have just enough intelligence to clean cabins and cook lunches. Do yours usually foretell the future? Do you consult them for your auguries?"

Suddenly the other Roman officers were laughing nervously. Some of them looked at Ella and then over at her brother, snorting in disgust after sizing up the two of them. Octavian's teddy bear fell to the floor. "I, uh…" Cassandra wanted to bash Annabeth's head in for insulting her brother as he continued to speak. "No, but-"

"She's just spouting lines from some book," the Leader of the Greek Peace Party continued, "like Hazel suggested. Besides, we already have a real prophecy to worry about." Then she turned to the giant and was able to get him to leave with the hellhound and the harpy, only after he had squeezed everyone in an uncomfortable embrace.

"Well." Reyna set down the apple she had been playing with. "Octavian is right about one thing. We must gain the senate approval before we let our legionnaires go on a quest-especially one as dangerous as you're suggesting."

"This whole thing smells of treachery," Octavian grumbled, and Cassandra had a gut-punching pain in her stomach that her brother was right. "That trireme is not a ship of peace!"

"Come aboard, man," the Son of Vulcan offered rather happily, "I'll give you a tour. You can steer the boat, and if you're really good I'll give you a little paper captain's hat to wear."

Octavian's nostrils flared in anger like a bull, if it was possible steam probably would have come out as well. "How dare you…"

"It's a good idea," Reyna agreed, "Octavian, go with him. See the ship. We'll convene a senate meeting in one hour."

Cassandra looked at their praetor in horror and squeezed her brother's hand. Was she trying to send him to his death? But both siblings could tell that no matter how much Octavian might try arguing was not going to help in the least. "Fine."

The Daughter of Apollo watched nervously as Leo stood up and said, "Back soon. This is gonna be epic." She watched as her brother and the Son of Vulcan headed toward the rope ladder of the ship.

Cassandra squeezed her eyes shut as a vision began to beckon her to a world of pain. But all she got was the sound of screams of horror and uncertainty before she was dragged back to reality by Adeline.

The words that she heard from Reyna's mouth, left almost as stunned as the near-vision had. "Come, daughter of Athena." Reyna rose from the couch she was seated at. "Walk with me."

Cassandra glanced up from her massive chocolate chip cookie, a high-pitched whistle pierced her ears painfully, and then there was an explosion and a blast of light that would of sent her flying with the couch she had been sitting on went flying through the air, now enflamed. The Daughter of Apollo scrambled to her feet, wishing that she had her weapons. How could Reyna allow this, allow their very enemies on their soil?! She knew they would betray them; their praetor was such a fool! She made her way through the crowd that was now nothing but an angry mob as they threw plates, food, and rocks at the deadly ship known as the _Argo II_. Tears nearly sprung to her eyes, Gods! Octavian was on that ship! The second attack from the ship a spear laced with Greek fire turned the Senate House into a giant bonfire.

Screams of anger filled her ears from her fellow Roman demigods and demigoddesses. The Daughter of Venus was trying to calm them all down with her Charmspeak but it was useless as a mosquito. While Jason was shouting, "I'm on your side!" Cassandra turned back to see the legionnaires were coming toward the forum along with two artillery crews that had catapults sat up just outside the Pomerian Line. With all of the confusion, the Daughter of Apollo struggled to find her cousins, while nearly getting knocked over by a faun that's arms were loaded with food.

She looked up at the rope ladder just in time to see her brother desperately clinging to it. His robes were steaming and his face was covered in black soot. Cassandra was just relieved to see him alive. She nearly got drenched by Percy trying to make her way toward her eldest full-blooded sibling. When she heard him say, "The Greeks have _fired _on us! Your boy Leo has trained his weapons on Rome!"

The _Argo II _fired once more, she watched as the legionnaires in the field scattered to safety as one of their catapults was turned to splinters. "You see?" Octavian screamed. "Romans, kill the invaders!"

Suddenly a horse came through the crowd as a blur; it only caused more panic as some of her fellows were pushed back as Hazel mounted her steed. Jason was now shouting something different, which was not going to help. "Romans! Please!"

Cassandra quickly made her way to where the archers were lining up; if she could she would aid them. Relief and comfort flooded her body once she felt her weapons returning to their proper places. Her sun-shield on her back along with the golden longbow. her sword and the quiver belted around her waist. She watched in horror as Percy and Annabeth made it to the ladder, and Percy threw her brother into the crowd like a piece of meat. Worry flooded her, as she quickly notched an arrow into her longbow, ready to release it.

She fired just as giant dragon came through the crowd as they scrambled to get out of the way, but the arrows and rocks did nothing to stop it, and simply bounced off. Cassandra notched an arrow that would of killed Annabeth with a shot to her neck, but the dragon charged toward her making the shot soar past her head instead. She watched as the dragon gathered Piper and Jason into his claws and soared up toward the ship, taking them to safety.

Cassandra followed the rest of Legionnaires toward the ships, wishing for flaming arrows from her quiver as she quickly produced and notched one into her longbow, but before she could fire it, the _Argo II _disappeared into the clouds.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: I am so sorry it has taken me forever to update this, but better late than never I guess. I feel that this is a gap-filler for Mark of Athena, seeing as Rick Riordan focused more on the crew of the Argo II then what was actually happening at Camp Jupiter during the crew's hunt for Nico. I do not own PJATO, just some of the plot for this story and any OCS. Please review! –Maiden of the Heavens (MOTH) **

Chapter 15

The days after the Greeks had left in their warship, escaping with three of their own had been a tragedy. Octavian had cooped himself in New Rome's massive library reading over books and scrolls about old wars and war strategies. He had stated very clearly that if Reyna was not going to do anything about the betrayers and their Greek allies, then he would take it into his own hands.

Cassandra and Dakota, and the other leaders of the cohort found themselves training new soldiers that had been recruited from the city or newbies that had just come into Camp straight from Lupa after their training was deemed finished by the goddess at the Wolf House. The Daughter of Apollo wiped sweat off her brow with her arm and re-sheathed her short sword, swinging her sun shield back over back. It was nearly noon and she was exhausted and hungry. She left the other leaders to continue the training while she made her way into the kitchens, one of the wind spirits happily handed her two chocolate milk shakes and a plate of turkey and cheddar sandwiches with extra Miracle Whip. She thanked them and made her way to the library.

She found her brother buried among a tower of books, a lantern burning with a weakening flame as she set the sandwich down in front of his and put the chocolate milk in his hand. Octavian sipped at the sugary liquid for several moments before going back to jotting down notes in his notebook. His younger sister sighed and grabbed the pencil out of his hand while he was in midsentence. He brushed his pale blonde bangs out of his hair and glared at her coldly.

"Give me back my pencil, Cass."

Cassandra shook her dark chocolate haired head for once she wasn't wearing a beanie and instead of wearing skinny jeans, she was pair of dark purple shorts that matched her Camp Jupiter t-shirt and sneakers. Octavian sighed and held his sister's hand in own, her hands were cold and shaking, and once she had forcibly torn him away from his studies. He noticed just how pale and thin his sister was, and even though they both normally were, she was worse than what was normal for the pair. He could see her bones she was so terribly thin and it worried him.

"You're visions are getting worse aren't they?" The Son of Apollo asked, his face was creased with concern now and sky-blue eyes were filed with dread for his sibling.

"They have been for a while." The demigoddess admitted, as she peered at her brother's notes.

"You're dying…" her brother said sorrow leaking into the words.

"Have been for a while now." Cassandra shrugged, she might have feared Death and the Underworld for a time, but now that she was certain that she going to be leaving the world of the living behind, it seemed rather useless.

The war strategies and tactics lay forgotten as Octavian pulled all of his focus toward his dying sister. "Have you tried getting a hold of Dad?" certainly, Apollo, God of Music and Truth would know by now that one of his daughters was practically stepping into the boat that were lead to the gates of the Underworld.

"Tried, but it's like trying to get a clear radio signal. All fuzzy and distorted." Cassandra explained, having tried to get a hold of her father about a thousand times since summer had begun. "Maybe, he's just too busy going after another mortal woman." If that was what was happening, it didn't shock Octavian. Both children of Apollo were used to his womanizing ways, hence the reason they had so many half-siblings at Camp Jupiter, and probably plenty more they had yet to meet at Camp Half-Blood. That was if Reyna could somehow figure out a way to stop the oncoming bloodbath that was sure to happen between the Greek and Roman Children of the divinities.

Cassandra yawned and stretched out the kinks in her aching muscles, it also did not help that she felt that she was about to fall over. She decided to leave her brother to his plotting, she bit into a turkey and cheese sandwich and was about to try to pry open the bottle of water, with the sandwich in between her teeth when Octavian gently laid a hand on her arm.

"Would you mind going to go release the eagles to get a start on tracking _them_?" he asked as he spun his pencil in between his fingers and looked down at his recently sketched out war plans.

The Daughter of Apollo nodded and finished off the triangle of food before replying, "Sure. They seem to like me for some odd reason." She hopped off the table and made her way out of the library and toward where the eagles were kept in their massive aviary. She tossed them a couple of massive trout that were lying in a bucket before beginning to turn the crank that would open the top of their sanctuary. The eagles screeched and titled their heads in a way of puzzlement after they were done tearing apart their meal with their deadly talons and beaks.

"Okay guys," Cassandra said to the eagles that were about the size of a full grown Pteranodon, it did not feel awkward at all, in fact the demigoddess found herself napping here most of the time when she wanted to be away from all of the chaos that was brewing in Camp and within her own head. "I need to find that massive warship with the Greek demigods and the traitors." She almost sneered, her and Hank had been training these eagles for weeks and having them memorize the scent of the crew of the _Argo II_, it should not be that difficult for a group of forty giant eagles to find them. She watched in amazement as they took flight before she slung her golden longbow off her back and made her way toward the archery range.

If being asleep and being awake left her with the same sickening death feeling, hopefully several rounds of target practice would keep her mind from thinking of her doom and of Nico's.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: I hope you enjoy this chapter, please leave a review! –Maiden of the Heavens (MOTH) **

Chapter 16

Apollo paced like a restless caged animal in his chambers at Mount Olympus, he sipped more nectar from the chalice in his hand and sighed. He set the cup holding his drink on the nightstand in his chambers, and looked down at the lyre that lay on the silk covers, he nearly picked up the instrument, but his shaking fingers stopped mere inches from touching the strings before he went back to drinking the nectar that kept refilling in the chalice. He wished that the nectar would at least make him feel drunk, but all did was make him feel like he was about ready to jump out of his skin. It was nothing but liquid sugar after all, he set the chalice down once more and made his way to his writing desk, crumbled pieces of paper lay strewn all around the chair and desk legs, pencils that had been sharpened down to nubs were laying across the floor, some had rolled under the bed.

The God of Music sat down at the chair and picked up one of the pencils, twirling it between his fingers. His blonde hair was almost to his shoulders, his icy-blue eyes staring at the screen of his laptop, which currently had his IPod hooked up to it. The musical device was loaded with thousands upon thousands of different genres of music, but the God felt too agitated to listen to any of it. Instead he looked at the poems he had written, knowing that they were all complete rubbish. Apollo heard a soft knocking at the door and almost groaned in annoyance, he made his way over to the door, only to find Aphrodite standing there, a grin on her flawless face, her dark brown waves were plated back in a braid that was nearly to her back. She was wearing a baby pink sundress with matching sandals that laced almost all the way up to her knees.

Apollo really wanted to shut the door on the Goddess's of loves face, but did not get the chance as she glided into the room and plopped herself down gracefully on the edge of the God of Music's bed.

"Shouldn't you be romping around with Ares?" Apollo questioned as he shut the open door.

Aphrodite sighed and a mirror was produced out of thin air as she lightly applied a bit of rouge to her lips before the mirror disappeared in a poof of white smoke. The Goddess rolled her eyes and finally replied. "I do not always have to seek my pleasures from Ares…but that isn't why I'm here." The goddess smiled.

Apollo folded his arms across his chest and waited for Aphrodite to continue. "I matched your daughter, Cassandra Dusoleil with the perfect suitor."

The God of Music raised an eyebrow at this, Cassandra was only sixteen and he knew her to be far too much of a warrior and tomboy to fall for some doll-faced boy that Aphrodite could have chosen. He merely started laughing as Aphrodite's face darkened in anger and hurt. "You don't believe me…"

"Of course, I don't." Apollo replied and swept the chalice from its place and taking a rather large swallow of the nectar. "My daughter would never fall for one of your pretty boy children, Venus."

"I did not match her up with one of my own children. Even I know that would be disastrous. Her chosen love is Nico di Angelo."

Apollo nearly choked on liquid that he was swallowing and sputtered out the words, "Out of all the guys in the world and you had to choose him for her?!"

"They are two pieces of a massive puzzle that fit perfectly together." The Goddess of Love said almost in a sing-song voice. She was very proud of her matchmaking skills after all.

The God of the Sun face grew grim and found himself sagging into the chair at his writing desk. Tears pooled at the edge of his icy-blue eyes. "Then you have a made terrible match, Cassandra is dying and Nico will merely be the heartbroken boy standing over her grave…"

"They are destined to be together Apollo…she can't die." The Goddess of Love bit out rather angrily.

"Tell that to the fates that have my daughter's lifeline in their hands so close to the scissors to snip in two." Apollo retorted, glaring at her.

"Oh for Zeus's bread, Apollo!" Aphrodite yelled her fists clenched. "You're her father! Do something to stop her from floating down the River Styx!"

Apollo looked up at her and did not speak a word, which prompted the Goddess to say, "Unless you don't care for her…why would you care for one daughter? After all you have so many sons and daughters who deserve your affection."

The God of the Sun glared at her. "All of my children are important to me! But Cassandra deserves to be loved and saved, no one deserves to be alone forever! Why do you think I sent Nico the visions?! It is quest to save her from Letus's clutches! If he loves her so much as you say he does, then he will save her before it is too late!" Apollo fumed.

Aphrodite grinned a little, "So you have faith in Hade's son?"

"I really don't have any other choice." Apollo grumbled, his fingers clutched a book that had many haikus written within its pages.

"Do you know who placed the curse on Cassandra?" the Goddess of Love questioned.

"Erebos…" Apollo answered, the name was like poison on his tongue.

"Why would he do such a thing?" Aphrodite asked her eyes now wide.

The God of Music and Prophecy could only shrug, he could not believe that his daughter's life was being held together by a strand and the only one who could save her was the Son if Pluto. Apollo heaved himself out of his chair and gathered his golden longbow and quiver. He left Aphrodite alone in his chambers, knowing she was probably going to sneak off to be with Ares.

Right now, Apollo needed to release his anger and frustration, and since Mount Olympus was on lockdown and he could not even get near enough to check on his offspring, he would have to find the target range. It sickened his heart to know that Erebos was killing his daughter, slowly but surely, she would die and go insane. And Apollo's only hope of her to survive was Nico di Angelo.


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: Welcome to Chapter Seventeen of Pain Killer. I am sorry it took so long to update! All I own are the OCS and some of the plot. Please leave a review! –Maiden of the Heavens (MOTH)**

Chapter 17

Cassandra handed her brother his sword and shield. He was wearing purple and denim clothing underneath the glittering gold armor he now donned. He was scrawny and looked like a kid wearing a trashcan rather than a roman soldier. He was not fit for battle; it was better if he just stayed behind and tore a couple of beanie babies to pieces then sacrifice his life to avenge there home.

She looked over at the Baxter and Calvin, the two other roman soldiers who were built like tanks and had arms like tree trunks; they were both Sons of Mars. Octavian was too busy waving his sword in order to practice swings, to know when Cassandra quickly mouthed, "Please keep him safe." Calvin and Baxter nodded; Octavian re-sheathed his blade and hugged his sister.

"I will avenge Camp Jupiter, Cass. You just stay here and rest." He gently tugged down her beanie, just as the visor clanked down limiting his vision.

"I'm not staying here." Cassandra replied, his brother lifted up his helm and narrowed his eyes.

"You are not well enough to go into battle." He growled.

Cassandra rolled her eyes, "Yeah and you're built like a fucking toothpick. Just because I am dying doesn't mean that I can't help capture those stupid Greeks!" she retorted. "I'll be in the chariot with Clay and Duncan. You're going to need backup after all." The Daughter of Apollo removed her brother's helm and handed him two large pieces of wax. "Put those in your ears, it'll stop that siren from Charmspeaking."

Cassandra watched the three fly off on some of the golden eagles that remained, while she headed where Duncan and Clay were hitching up the pegasai to the chariot. They had quivers and longbows over their backs. They were both Sons of Saturn, and were good at archery. Good, but not deadly pinpoint accurate like some of the children of Apollo. Then again, not all of Apollo's children were good at archery, most were better at poetry or composing music. Others were womanizers just like their father. Cassandra shuddered at the thought of ever meeting any of her Greek half-siblings; they were probably all pretty boys or blond Barbie-like girls.

She shouldered her golden longbow over her back, and her sun-shaped shield. Her quiver of arrows, and sword belted around her waist. What she would not give to not have to wear the armor, she felt like a clunky cyberman, it weighed her down and lowered her speed. The armor might protect her from fatal wounds, but she was already starting to feel herself beginning to cook within the glittery gold death trap. She put her helm on and made her way inside the chariot.

Cassandra gripped the side of the chariot, feeling the world starting to spin and her head feeling like it was being cleaved in half. Sweat began to form on her hands and forehead, and all she could see in front of her was a hazy picture of Nico, curled up at the bottom of the gigantic jar, dead. Tears began to form at the end of her eyes, and slowly trickled down her cheeks. She finally screamed out in anguish, feeling Duncan and Clay supporting her from underneath her arms.

"Maybe you should stay here." Conner said his southern accent thick when he spoke.

The Daughter of Apollo shook her head and braced herself against the chariot, her legs felt like rubber. "No way…" she bit out between hisses of pain, "I am not gonna let those traitors get away. I am going to fight, damn it."

The chariot took the air with a only a couple seconds of hoof beats pounding the ground before the Pegasus's wings began to beat in the air. Cassandra squeezed her eyes shut, and within an hour they were hovering above where Argo II was docked. Her brother was screeching orders at Hazel, the Daughter of Minerva, and the Daughter of Venus. He was trying so hard to seem macho and brave, it was somewhat pathetic. Clay took the reins of the chariot and veered them into the clouds for cover, just as Percy Jackson, the Son of Neptune, trapped Octavian, Baxter, and Calvin into a vortex of water. Cassandra tried to heave herself out of the chariot and to unbuckle one of the pegasai, but Duncan stopped her by hauling her back in around the waist.

"Do you really think Octavian would want his little sister saving his sorry ass?" Duncan questioned.

Cassandra sighed, "No…but you don't think that stupid fish-boy would really kill him do you?"

Both Sons of Mars shook their heads, Clay replied. "He's too soft to kill anyone."

Duncan smirked after several minutes of them being hidden in the cloud cover. "There are the traitors…" he grinned like a madman and veered the chariot toward Jason, who was using the air to fly, Frank that was in the form of a giant eagle with the Son of Vulcan in his talons. The trio of archers nearly had them trampled but Jason and Frank veered up and out of the way before they had the chance. Cassandra quickly notched an arrow into golden longbow and fired, but with Frank's constant swerving all the arrows only scraped the soles of Leo's shoes.

Cassandra's eyes grew wide as the fawn on the Argo II launched a flaming spear toward the chariot. The pegasai panicked, fear in their eyes as the chariot went out of control. Clay was hanging onto the reins trying to straighten them out, but it wasn't any use. Cassandra screamed as Duncan grabbed her and held her to him in a vice grip. They crashed into the Son of Jupiter, and then plummeted farther down crashing into Fort Sumter. All Cassandra could hear was the sound of her own screams ringing in her ears, the chariot was now more like a crumpled sardine can and somehow Clay had found the strength to cut the pegasai loose from their harnesses with his daggers, so they could fly free of the oncoming danger.

Duncan helped drag Cassandra out of the wreckage, she looked up sore and dizzy to see her cousins, Adeline and Adrian had arrived with plenty of cavalry on the golden eagles. They would make out of this alive, thank the Gods. But once she and the Sons of Mars had gotten out of the Fort Sumter, all they could see was chaos. Their fellow Romans were chasing after Leo, tripping over piles of cannonballs that were under their feet. The Daughter of Apollo, hefted her shield in front of her and unsheathed her sword, she might have been battered, but she was not going to let Jason, Hazel, and Frank escape.

But with all of the tourists, it was difficult to find the Greek Demigods and Demigoddesses among the chaos that was now surrounding them. She watched in horror as Dakota was taken down with a hit from Jason's _gladius_, she thought she heard Adeline screaming Dakota's name but she couldn't be sure. She watched as Adeline ran right past her, her electric whip, sizzling and sparking like an angry snake, Adeline knelt down beside Dakota, forgetting the chaos that was around them. Cassandra forced her way through frightened tourists and bloodthirsty centurions, to help her cousin get Dakota to his feet, or at least to somewhere safer than the midst of this bloody civil war.

With Dakota being supported on both her and Adeline's shoulders, they made their way slowly toward one of the pegasai. She helped Adeline get Dakota onto the horse, before her cousin vaulted one leg over and easily mounted the winged steed. "Get back to Camp Jupiter." Cassandra said as her cousin looked at her with pleading eyes to go with her and the Kool-Aid addict. Cassandra slapped the Pegasus on the rump as it became airborne. Cassandra turned around and made her, in dented armor and all toward the storm that was raging at the Argo II. The Daughter of Apollo could hear her brother screeching. "Kill them! Kill them all!"

She wanted to sigh with relief, her brother was alive. But still a coward, considering he was hiding behind Baxter and Calvin. She watched as the other soldiers slowly made advancement toward the ship, even with the storm raging. Their giant eagles plummeted and hit the earth with bone-shattering cracks as Jason's lightning hit them. The flying chariot that she, Clay, and Duncan had been in now floated in the water, burning. She could not believe how lucky she was to still be alive. But this, this was bloodthirsty war, everyone was out for blood. And she could not believe how frightening these Greeks were, they never should have been trusted! They never should have been allowed to step foot in New Rome, that was Reyna's fault. She had turned a blind eye and decided to give them a chance, she was such a fool.

The Daughter of Apollo glanced over to see Annabeth, the Daughter of Minerva making her through their ranks toward the Argo II, without a second thought, Cassandra took an arrow out of her quiver as it somehow knew to transform into a spear. She heard her brother scream, "Stop her!" at the top of lungs past the sounds of the raging storm. Cassandra let the arrow-turned-spear loose from her hand, but it only skimmed the Daughter of Minerva's ear. She watched as little siren heaved Annabeth on board the ship, and within moments the plank was in the sea, and ship was far out of reach thanks to Percy Jackson.

Cassandra took her helm off and let it fall to the ground, just as she sank to her knees in pure exhaustion. The adrenaline that had been rushing through her veins was now all used up. She was too drained to think, she could hear her brother cursing and screaming. But she did not care; all she wanted was for Nico to be alive. Even if he did not love her anymore after all of this was over, she just wanted him to be alive. Was that too much to ask for?


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: ****Welcome to chapter eighteen of Pain Killer. I hope you enjoy this story. I do not own anything of PJATO except for some of this plot and story, and any OCS. Please leave a review! –Maiden of the Heavens (MOTH) **

Chapter 18

'_I wanna see your animal side, let it all out! I wanna see the dirt under your skin. I need your broken promises. I want the guts and glory, baby, baby. This town is wasted alone…' _The Lyrics to the song Death Valley by Fall Out Boy blasted in her ears, drowning out the sounds of shouted arguments, the clanks of armor being repaired, and the yells of her fellow Romans practicing.

Cassandra should have been practicing as well, but her heart was not in it. She was wearing a white t-shirt decorated with hearts outlined in black and grey skulls grinning toothily. The jeans she had were ripped at the knees; the sneakers she had on were scuffed and worn. She did not mind choking on the dust and dirt that bellowed from workers trying to repair the parts of New Rome that were damaged. Her sun-shaped shield with its spikey bronze rays whacked heavily on her back, the arrows in her quiver rattled an awkward song as they swayed on her belt with her bronze short-sword. Her golden longbow was in her hand, she had been planning on going to the archery range to practice, and she still had bitter taste in her mouth about not being able to take down the traitor Frank and his fellow soldier Leo. But what would Nico think of her for wanting to kill the Greeks? They had destroyed her home! They deserved it, didn't they? Clutching her head in hands, the Daughter of Apollo sat down on the half-finished stone base of a fountain, and tried to get herself to breathe. This was all just becoming one gigantic shit that had hit the fan and spread all over, and nobody wanted to bother to try to clean any of it up like civilized people.

Octavian was busy up in the library again, trying to plot their best route to Camp Half-Blood, they would be in there within a month, he promised their bloodthirsty fellow Romans. It was Reyna, who had given the Auger the directions to the Camp that held their Greek brethren, so maybe she had lost all the trust she had for Jason too? Cassandra rubbed her dark chocolate eyes with her hands, trying not even think about the dark and heavy bags that were already under them. If she wanted too, she could go and help her fellow half-brothers and half-sisters with healing and taking care of injured, but she was not one for herb hunting and bandage wrapping. Adeline was probably with Dakota, missing him another overly sugared glass of Kool-Aid. She could totally see that those two were head over heels in love with each other, and Gods willing they would make through this war and be able to stay together. Gods willing, her and Nico would be reunited. Her heart ached like someone was trying to rip it in half, while she was trying her best to keep it whole. Tears were beginning to blur her vision, but she quickly wiped them away roughly with the back of her hand this was not the time for crying.

Cassandra's hand gripped the hilt of her short-sword, when she felt a hand fall on to her bony shoulder and squeeze it gently, almost as if the person who was touching her was afraid that she going to crumble to dust. She opened up her tired eyes to find Hank looking at her with concern creasing his face. A fellow Centurion worried about her condition, it was almost sweet. She was one of the centurions of the third cohort after all; shouldn't it be her fellow one trying to make sure she was still alive and not Hank? She was not even wearing a beanie today, instead her shaggy pixie cut looked windblown and unkempt, and she did not make any attempt to fix it.

Hank weakly smiled at her, she knew that everybody in all of Camp Jupiter knew that she was close to death bed, and even though she did not want it her fellow Romans were giving her their pity. She did not need Hank to say anything, but merely hugged him gently and made her way toward the third cohort bunkered. The door opened as she shoved with her shoulder and then she plopped down her bed with a sigh. Fresh sheets that were covered with clouds were now on her bed, along with a feather-down cover blanket, and the pillows even had clean cases on them. The dirty ones were shoved into her laundry bag. It had to be either Adeline or Hebe, even though Hebe was now hard at work trying to help Duncan and Clay build a new chariot. Either way, she would find a way to thank to them somehow. She unknotted her sneakers and let them fall to the floor; she peeled off her socks and stuffed them into her shoes. She somehow managed to wriggle out of her hole ripped jeans and into a pair of black pajama bottoms with skulls decorating both legs, and pair of bony hands on the buttocks. Cassandra them made her way into the comfort of the clean blankets and sheets, they smelled like lilac. She placed her ear buds into her ears, and turned on her Nap-Time Playlist, hoping it would bring her sweet dreams. She did not want to stumble into any nightmare visions not now.

The lyrics for Fallin' For You by Colbie Caillat drifted into her foggy brain as she began to fall asleep. Instead of a green meadow covered in flowers and the sun shining down, with dragonflies and ladybugs buzzing about, she found herself in a corridor. A dark corridor, with not a light to guide her. Cassandra found herself frightened, she was unable to move her feet, she looked down at her in awe as what seemed to be rays of sunlight gathering at her fingertips and forming into an orb. Was this some type of trick, or a new power that she could only activate in her dreams?

Now she felt like a human flashlight, without thinking she began to run down the corridor, with its many doors either slammed uptight as if by glue or splintered so badly, that her hands would end up looking like she had picked up a porcupine at the wrong end. All she could feel was something cold and dark trying to grab at her. Grab at any part of her, her t-shirt, her hands, her arms, her ankles, her legs, her bare feet. The fear that welling up inside of her was making it difficult for her to breath, as she finally able to open up one of the doors and stumble through it. It slammed shut loudly, echoing in her ears and throughout the room. The little orb of light that she had somehow managed to create vanished like melting snow. With sweat trickling down her neck and face, she sank to her knees. Her t-shirt was clinging to her like a second skin. Her mind felt broken and shattered, that the only thing she could do was break down, she sobbed and sobbed. Tears slipping down her face like a waterfall, she tried her best sniffle away the snot that was coming from her nose, but could only wipe it away with the neckline of her t-shirt. She looked up to see someone standing in front of her.

There was a smirk on his pale face, his dark eyes seem to gleam in happiness. He looked like death, skinny and undernourished. Like a skeleton trying to fit into a skin that was too big for its frame. Instead of saying his name, she grabbed his ice-cold hands and yanked him down beside her. She covered his pale skinned face with kisses and finally buried her face into the crook of his neck, while he held her awkwardly on his knees.

"A-Are we dead?" she whispered, her voice harsh from crying.

She could feel Nico softly laughing against her, "No, not yet."

"Their coming to get you…" she said quietly.

"Who?" Nico asked, raising a thin eyebrow.

"The Son of Neptune and the others. Your sister too. They're going to save you…" Cassandra explained, feeling herself beginning to shiver. "It might be too late for me, Nico."

The Son of Pluto shook his shaggy black haired head. "I will not let you die. I will find a way save you…somehow. I promise I will find a way…"

"Nico…" his name came past her lips as a whisper. "I love you."

The Son of Pluto smiled grimly, planting a kiss to his girlfriend's dark chocolate hair. "I love you too."

Nico narrowed his raven-black eyes, as he held her close in their dream. Somehow they had become connected by their dreams. _I won't lose you._


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: ****Welcome to Chapter Nineteen of Pain Killer! Thank you for all of the wonderful reviews and please keep reviewing! Some of the plot, story, and all OCS belong to me. The rest belong to the original author. Once again, please leave a review! Maiden of the Heavens (MOTH) **

Chapter 19

The Daughter of Apollo awoke shaken and blinking back the tears, that were blurring her vision. She wanted to stay in Nico's arms a little longer, hear his heart beating against her ear. But something had pulled her out of the dream, flashes of a vision blur her sight for mere moments, like an old movie reel moving far too quickly, about to burn and crumple. A centaur, he looked old but determined. The Cyclops from the meeting that had been in Camp Jupiter barely a month before with the scrawny harpy holding on two one of his giant fingers, with both of her talon like hands. She rubs her hands to try to make visions stop, but of course they don't, they flash across her eyes every time she blinks like an old black and white film. Cassandra does the only thing she knows that will make it stop, she digs through her backpack until she finds the orange medication bottle, and she easily twists off the lid and then pops three pills into her mouth. She swallows them down with two bottles of water that were left under her bed.

The sun has already begun to set, leaving the bunkered bathed in a gold, soft, light. Dust particles float in the air like snow gently falling on winter morning. Cassandra's face crunches up in curiosity and maybe a little bit of fear. She reaches her hand toward the rays of sunlight and slowly begins to make them into a ball of light, like a little child would do with play do. A half-smile graces her lips, before she lets the ball of light disperses back into rays. She leaves her shield, longbow, and arrows, against the post of her bed. Her bronze short sword, still sheathed and under her pillow. She grabbed her toiletry bag out of the smallest pocket in her backpack and grabs a fresh underpants, sleep shorts decorated with white glow in the dark paw prints, and a matching nightshirt that glow in the dark skeletons kittens on the front. When she makes her way inside the bathhouse it is already noisy. Demigods and Demigoddess from other cohorts beside just her own have already taken up most of the cubby spaces on both sides, she takes one of the lasts ones and grabs herself a fluffy pink towel, rolling her eyes. Azalea, Daughter of Venus and also one of her cohort members never failed to stock the girls' side of the bathhouse with something pink.

Steam and cheerful laughter greet her ears, as Cassandra steps out of the bath. She wished she had brought her IPod, but the electronic device probably wasn't waterproof. She should have just been happy it had an immortal battery. She glances at the other girls in the bath; there is Hebe, Daughter of Vulcan, Sally and her little sister, Suzanne, both Daughters of Mercury. Azalea, of course, and Cassandra's own half-sister, Fable. Sally had her red hair twisted up into a messy bun, her face splattered with freckles, and deep blue eyes. Suzanne red hair hung loose near her shoulders, her face was free of freckles, but she same deep blue eyes as her sister. Fable had blonde hair that she in pigtails, and their father's blue eyes. Azalea had dark raven hair that hung in loose ringlets around her face, with hazel eyes.

She cocked a delicately plucked eyebrow at her cohort centurion, "Honey, you look like death. Could you at least have tried to hide those nasty bags under your eyes?"

Cassandra let out a sigh, and then politely and has ladylike as she could, she flipped the Daughter of Venus the finger, and then continued to scrub herself clean with her orange scented body wash. She looked up to see Adeline joining them; her hair was free of the gel that normally spiked it up. Instead it hung all wispy near her chin, the icy blue tips at the edges. Her earrings still jingled as she entered the water and squirted her body wash onto her scrub-poof.

"Where's all the stuff you normally have in your hair, darling?" Azalea questioned, her face still scrunched up in annoyance at Cassandra.

Adeline's face grew red as she muttered, "Dakota said that I looked like a porcupine…"

All of the girls giggled, except for Cassandra as she hauled herself out of bath. The youngest in their cohort was her half-sister, Fable. Being only nine, she knew that the other girls being close enough to her own age would watch after Fable. Especially Hebe, she acted more of a sister toward Fable then Cassandra did. The Daughter of Apollo dried herself with the towel and then scrubbed through her hair, it short and pixie cut, just how she liked it. She made her way to the mirrors and sinks.

She washed her face clean and tried her best to ignore the fact that Azalea was right, she did look like death. She sighed and put her ear buds back in her ears, blasting Nickelback's song Trying Not to Love You. She slipped on her nightshirt and sleep shorts. She put her towel into the dirty laundry, and could see the world beginning to swim before her eyes. The drugs that she had taken just before coming into the bathhouse were starting to kick in heavily. She could hear, Hank, her fellow Centurion, shouting at two of their members. Something about stop using the towels as whips. Probably yelling at her half-brothers, Baldwin and Claude. They were of Pakistani decent with dark black hair, but with Apollo's blue eyes. They looked nothing alike, and unlike Cassandra they had their father's gift of healing. She picked up her toothbrush and turned the knob of the faucet as the cold water starting to flow out. Cassandra went to dip her toothbrush and squirt on toothpaste on it, when it slipped from her hands and both teeth cleaning products clanked into the white porcelain sink, leaving her shirt splattered with water.

Her dark chocolate eyes had grown wide with fear as she looked in the mirror at the shadow that was behind her. But he wasn't simply a shadow she knew that, he was the darkness in her mind and in visions. He was the one causing her agony, he was the one causing her a slow and painful death. She wanted to scream but sounds would not come out of her mouth, instead tears pooled at the edge of her eyes. The shadow merely grinned like the cat that had caught the canary, and before she could do anything, she could feel his cold and dark grip beginning to pull at her heart, and began to pull at her soul. She reached desperately for the rays of light that were streaming through the window and felt them gathering toward her like moths to a flame. She shoved the sphere of light into Erobos's face. The deity of darkness screamed and vanished into shadow. Cassandra could only sink to her knees, feeling her face hitting the cool tile of the floor. She could hear feet running toward her, but it all seemed from very far away, so very far away. As if she was under water.

Hank had her in his arms; her head resting against the crook of his arm, Octavian only in pajama bottoms was above her, calling her name. There were pencil smudges on his fingers; his thin fingers were gripping her cheeks. Someone was crying, it could have been Fable, she could see her out of the corner of her eye, clutching on to Hebe. Baldwin was checking her pulse. Claude was running off somewhere with Adeline behind him.

Cassandra tried to speak, but the words only came out as pathetic wheezes as if she couldn't catch her breath. She weakly grabbed at Octavian's fingers, before she blacked out entirely and lost all sense of the world around her.


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: Welcome to this chapter of Pain Killer! Only two more chapters to go until this story is finished and we all have to wait for House of Hades to be released, so I can start working on the sequel. The sequel will be called: Fear Has Two Meanings. So please, if you are interested in reading the sequel after this story is finished, put me on Author Alert. Also, I do not own PJATO. Just some of the plot and story, and any OCS. Please leave a review! –Maiden of the Heavens (MOTH) **

Chapter 20

She was not sure how long it had been. It seemed like hours, weeks, months, years, all at once. It did not seem possible and yet she could not figure out where she was. Sometimes she saw Nico gripping onto her bone-thin hands, trying to keep her close to him; his hands were as cold as ice. There were tears in his coal-black eyes, and she could feel herself tearing up as well. It felt like she was being torn in half. She liked it better when she was with Nico, but it was also her brother who would call her name and keep dapping at her forehead with a chillingly cold cloth soaked in herbs. They wanted her back with them, when she wanted to stay with Nico. But it was not just that, she also getting visions of Judgment, the river Styx with its rickety old boat, and a man wearing a striped suit, his coal-black hair was slicked back and his eyes were raven black, his skin as pale as milk. At least now she knew were Nico got his looks from. But she knew who it was, and it sent chills down her spine, made it feel like her chest was frozen and she could hardly breathe.

"I know who is hunting you, trying to kill you." He said, stepping toward her. The Daughter of Apollo found herself unable to move. The God of the Underworld, known as Hades to the Greeks, but to the Romans as Pluto, laid a hand on her shoulder, which sent her whole body shivering.

"I love him. Your son, Nico. I really love him." Warm tears began to stream down her cheeks, making everything into a salt-watery blur. "Please…don't take me away from him."

Pluto shook his head, she thought she saw a ghost of a smile stretch across the God of Death's face, but when she went to blink away the tears, it was gone. He answered her calmly. "You will not die, Daughter of Apollo. I will stall the Fates until Nico is able to rescue you. Keep in mind, that this is all I can do."

Cassandra nodded, and smiled softly. "Thank you…" she whispered.

Before she could stop what was happening, she found herself running down a corridor that was so dark she could not even see her own hand in front of her face. There were not even any rays of sunlight for her to conjure into an orb. She could feel it clawing at her legs and arms, she wanted to scream. Scream out for help, scream out Nico's name. Cassandra felt herself falling forward, she was weaponless and weak, she felt like a baby just learning how to crawl. She hit the floor, hard. Felt blood from her lip and mouth, and a bruise starting to form on her cheek. She kicked outward with one of her legs and felt it connect with something that was almost solid. A hiss of anger alerted her that whatever was trying to kill her, was now annoyed with her for making a dent in its face.

"Foolish Child of Apollo. Did you really think you would live through this? I am shadow, I am the very essence of fear…." The voice was coming from the same shadowy figure that had tried to kill her in the bathhouse. She knew that it was succeeding in killing her, but she did not want to die. She wanted to be with Nico, she wanted to avenge New Rome from Percy Jackson and his band traitors.

She felt Erebos grabbing her head and squishing her face into the floor, she could feel herself losing oxygen, could feel herself suffocating. The world around her was beginning to darken. She flailed and tried to kick herself free, but it was useless. Finally, somehow she able to draw air into her lungs, long enough to scream one name. "NICO!"

Suddenly Erebos was launched backwards into one of the wooden walls of corridor. Standing there, holding him by the throat was indeed the Son of Pluto. His Stygian iron sword pressed up against where the jugular vein in Erebos neck would be.

"Why are you trying to kill her?" Nico demanded, his black eyes narrowed into slits.

With a choked out laugh, Erebos laughed out the answer. "Persephone wanted to test you. She could not believe that you were in love. Then again, if you wouldn't have gotten here sooner, your toothpick of a girlfriend would have been dead already. Lucky you, you passed with flying colors."

Nico still did not release the hold that he had on Erebos, the living darkness and shadow. "Testing me? This quest was her idea?"

Erebos could only nod, "And since your girlfriend here is a Vision-Walker, this was the easiest way to start her slow descent into madness and death. If she would have died, then you would have failed big time."

Nico was not sure if he wanted to roll his eyes or kill Erebos. "What were you promised out of this?"

Erebos shrugged. "That is none of your damn business, my creepy little friend."

Nico could feel the shadow deity squirming in his hold, and almost grinned at the satisfaction it gave him. "If you ever come after her again, I will kill you." His threat, could only be taken as a promise that would fulfill if Erebos ever came after Cassandra again. The God of Shadow only nodded and then disappeared altogether.

The Son of Pluto went over to where Cassandra had crawled herself into a corner. She was shaking, her dark chocolate brown hair shaggy and unkempt, and almost matching Nico's Just-Got-Out-Of-Bed style. Her dark brown eyes were swimming with tears; fear still clearly in them along with what might have been relief, Nico could not be sure.

He crouched down in front of her and took her hands in his own deathly pale and icy-cold ones. He pressed a kiss to her forehead. "It's over….I promise. He won't come after you ever again."

Cassandra only nodded and then began to sob, this made Nico feel very comfortable, but he pulled her close and held her to him. Her tears were soaking into his t-shirt. "You saved me…" she whispered, he could feel her fingers curling into the fabric. Nico could only nod.

"O-Of course, I did. I-I-I love you." He replied, feeling his face beginning to turn red with embarrassment.

"I love you too. Come back to me. Okay?" Cassandra said, and lightly placed a kiss on her lips.

"I will." Nico promised and kissed her back.

Cassandra could feel the vision fading as she was slowly pulled away from Nico and back into the world of reality. The first thing she did was blink slowly; she could feel her heart beginning to beat again and at a normal rhythm. She was alive, all thanks to Nico. But he was still lost. He was still dying. She slowly sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed, she was New Rome's sickbay. Her brother, Octavian had his back turned to her and busy soaking the cloth that had been on her forehead in a bowl of herbs.

She carefully cleared her parched throat, his name coming out of her mouth sounding much like a stepped on squeaky-toy. "Octi…"

The Augur turned the bowl and washcloth falling out of his hands, as he made his way toward her. He hugged her gently. "We thought we lost you…You've been unconscious for three days…"

Cassandra kissed her brother on the cheek. "I love you too, Teddy-Bear Murderer."

Octavian shook his head in amusement, "I'll go tell everyone that you're still alive. Do you need anything?"

"A bath would be nice…" Cassandra replied, she felt all gross and sweaty, as if she had been in the summer heat for too long.

"I'll go get Adeline and Sally to help you get to the bathhouse." Octavian replied and left her in the silence of the sickbay.

Cassandra sighed tiredly. She would pray to the Gods tonight that Nico would come back to her alive. Where ever he was, it was not some place she knew. If there was one thing she did know, he was running out of time.


End file.
